Back by popular demand ... our Sunday feature, “You Ask ... Patch Answers,” where we strive to find answers to all your questions—big, small and in-between—about the town we live and work in.
Whether it’s something you’ve always wondered about, some information you just can’t put your hands on or a sudden curiosity, we want to hear it.
Send your queries to sheila.sanchez@patch.com or leave them in the comments section below, and I will do my best to dig up an answer for you. You also can call me at 408-391-8725.
On Dec. 5, a Los Gatos Patch reader, who declined to be identified, asked: "You never reported on the actual town damages from the last storm ... there was flooding at Lora Drive and Wedgewood Avenue north of La Rinconada Country Club. Do you have any idea how many PPW employees were out there working the storm this past weekend, what areas flooded and why. What we can do to better prepare for the next system?
Los Gatos Parks and Public Works Director Todd Capurso said there was minor flooding at Wedgewood Avenue and that there were up to four PPW employees, at a time, out working over the weekend of Nov. 30-Dec. 2. Several more worked, but the shifts were staggered to provide better coverage, he said.
Los Gatos parks service officer Dave Gray was also busy that weekend assisting PPW personnel in the clearing of debris produced by the storm such as downed trees and mud and dirt in street gutters from runoff.
"We get a lot of areas in town where the storm drain system gets overwhelmed for short periods of time and I don't know that we had standing water out there for very long," Capurso said. "When we get a lot of rain in a short period of time everything gets overwhelmed ... the storm drain gets to capacity and it can't carry water away fast enough."
Staff worked all over town that weekend, he said, but no report of property damage was made. However, he indicated, trees fell over in the Los Gatos Mountains and there was one incident on Blossom Hill Road with a tree being cleared. "We had minor mudslides, but we get this stuff every year. It's nothing out of the ordinary for the hillsides of Los Gatos."
