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Coyote Creek Trail Flooding, Then and Now, 6/25-27/23 by Ronald Horii
The Coyote Creek Trail has been flooded for several months in 2023. It started in January due to above-normal rains. It continued all the way until nearly the end of June due to the required draining of Anderson Reservoir. In 2020, Anderson Reservoir was ordered by federal regulators to be drained as low as possible due to the risk of the dam collapsing during an earthquake. The dam is also going to be torn down and replaced. The reservoir was drained to less than 4% of capacity by December of 2020, but the heavy rains of the winter of 2023 caused it to fill more than halfway. It had to be drained as fast as possible, so the outlet pipes were opened to their maximum flow. This caused flooding downstream on low parts of the Coyote Creek Trail. In particular, the flooded sections starting from the north were the park road leading to the Velodrome in Hellyer County Park, a long section south of the Hwy 101 bridge, a shorter section farther south before Embedded Way, 2 sections south of Coyote Ranch, and the creek crossing north of Bailey Avenue. There were other sections to the south that were temporarily flooded, but they didn't stay that way. I checked the section from Embedded Way to Hellyer on Monday 6/19/23, and the sections in-between, including the Velodrome crossing, were still flooded. I was worried, because there was a big charity bike ride scheduled on the trail on Saturday 6/24/23. They had detours planned if necessary. Afterwards, I heard from a friend that went on that ride that the trail was not flooded from Hellyer to Metcalf. On 6/25/23, I went to check out the trail between Silver Creek Valley Road and Hellyer. The water level in the creek was a lot lower, and the trail was totally dry. 2 days later on 6/27/23, I checked the trail from Metcalf Park to Coyote Ranch. The creek was lower, the trail was open, but it was not totally dry. I did not go all the way to Bailey. I may do that after this weekend's heat wave. Here are pictures of the creek and trail on 6/25 and 6/27/23. For comparison, I added earlier pictures taken when the creek was higher. Look at the dates on the pictures. Here are more of my pictures of Hellyer County Park: http://www.rhorii.com/#Hellyer. Pictures of the Coyote Creek Trail: http://www.rhorii.com/#CoyoteCreekParkway. Hellyer County Park: https://parks.sccgov.org/santa-clara-county-parks/hellyer-county-park. Coyote Creek Parkway: https://parks.sccgov.org/santa-clara-county-parks/coyote-creek-parkway. Anderson Dam Seismic Retrofit Project: https://www.valleywater.org/project-updates/c1-anderson-dam-seismic-retrofit. Anderson Dam Retrofit Project Update, 5/24/23: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BkSnYPaNTk&feature=youtu.be
The Coyote Creek Trail has been flooded for several months in 2023. It started in January due to above-normal rains. It continued all the way until nearly the end of June due to the required draining of Anderson Reservoir. In 2020, Anderson Reservoir was ordered by federal regulators to be drained as low as possible due to the risk of the dam collapsing during an earthquake. The dam is also going to be torn down and replaced. The reservoir was drained to less than 4% of capacity by December of 2020, but the heavy rains of the winter of 2023 caused it to fill more than halfway. It had to be drained as fast as possible, so the outlet pipes were opened to their maximum flow. This caused flooding downstream on low parts of the Coyote Creek Trail. In particular, the flooded sections starting from the north were the park road leading to the Velodrome in Hellyer County Park, a long section south of the Hwy 101 bridge, a shorter section farther south before Embedded Way, 2 sections south of Coyote Ranch, and the creek crossing north of Bailey Avenue. There were other sections to the south that were temporarily flooded, but they didn't stay that way. I checked the section from Embedded Way to Hellyer on Monday 6/19/23, and the sections in-between, including the Velodrome crossing, were still flooded. I was worried, because there was a big charity bike ride scheduled on the trail on Saturday 6/24/23. They had detours planned if necessary. Afterwards, I heard from a friend that went on that ride that the trail was not flooded from Hellyer to Metcalf. On 6/25/23, I went to check out the trail between Silver Creek Valley Road and Hellyer. The water level in the creek was a lot lower, and the trail was totally dry. 2 days later on 6/27/23, I checked the trail from Metcalf Park to Coyote Ranch. The creek was lower, the trail was open, but it was not totally dry. I did not go all the way to Bailey. I may do that after this weekend's heat wave. Here are pictures of the creek and trail on 6/25 and 6/27/23. For comparison, I added earlier pictures taken when the creek was higher. Look at the dates on the pictures. Here are more of my pictures of Hellyer County Park: http://www.rhorii.com/#Hellyer. Pictures of the Coyote Creek Trail: http://www.rhorii.com/#CoyoteCreekParkway. Hellyer County Park: https://parks.sccgov.org/santa-clara-county-parks/hellyer-county-park. Coyote Creek Parkway: https://parks.sccgov.org/santa-clara-county-parks/coyote-creek-parkway. Anderson Dam Seismic Retrofit Project: https://www.valleywater.org/project-updates/c1-anderson-dam-seismic-retrofit. Anderson Dam Retrofit Project Update, 5/24/23: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BkSnYPaNTk&feature=youtu.be
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