11 Mar Antioch, Richmond Identified Among Areas Where Storms Pose Threat to Homeless Population

A group of homeless men sit outside their tents next to a puddle of water as they cook food in Stockton on Jan. 4, 2023. The group moved from across the street after a storm had flooded the area. (FILE – Harika Maddala / Bay City News / CatchLight Local)

By Bay City News

A study suggests that homeless populations in some parts of the Bay Area face a severe threat from flooding due to rainstorms.

The University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources researchers behind the study found that over the past 30 years, rainstorms in the Bay Area have grown wetter and more frequent. These storms can cause flooding in low-lying areas, posing a severe risk to vulnerable populations such as homeless individuals living near rivers and creeks.

The study was published in the International Journal of Climatology.

The study authors mapped the social vulnerability of each U.S. Census tract in the Bay Area based on criteria like poverty, housing burden, minority populations, and access to transportation.

Then, they overlay these vulnerability maps upon the maps of storm frequency in the Bay Area.

Igor Lacan, one of the study’s authors, said in a news release that “social vulnerability, such as sensitivity to hazards based on low income and resources, overlaps with higher storm frequency.”

“These areas are patchily distributed across the Bay Area counties and include both urban stream locations, such as in San Jose and Hayward, and more ex-urban streams, as you see in Antioch and Vallejo,” Lacan said.

Some high-risk areas like Concord, Santa Rosa and Vallejo are inland, and while coastal areas like Oakland and Richmond experience fewer storms, they are home to more vulnerable populations.

Gregory Pasternack, another of the study’s authors, hopes that their study can inform local governments’ policies to protect residents from flooding.

“While some people are working hard to find homes for folks in encampments, meanwhile, the number of people losing their housing is still growing, so the problem is trending worse,” Pasternack said in the news release. “Therefore, we need to take steps to provide support for people where they are, even as we work to move them into better solutions for the long term.”

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