INTERVIEW

on Friday March 28, 1997

with Fred and Denise Haddix at 7720 Claypool Citrus Heights, CA 95610

In 1989, Fred and Denise Haddix moved into their house at 157 Country Club Road along the Feather River in Marysville. In 1991, the Yuba County Water Agency (Keith Lamb) debated whether they should allow the Haddixes to keep their property adjacent to the levee because they knew it might be subject to flooding. The Army Corps considered buying the Haddix property from their use but decided instead to obtain a right-of-way easement which expired on December 31, 1996.

On New Year’s eve, while Denise was on the telephone she counted 16 heavy trucks going across the levee (apparently going to access Pump House 3, an irrigation station) in less than an hour. Fred and Denise asked the levee people whether they should leave and were told “No, the levees are safe.”

On January 2, the Haddixes noticed what appeared to be “a lake” in neighbor Walter Cook’s where water had pooled across the entire 15 acres to about two or three feet deep. Part of the Haddixes’ land also had some water on it, but most of it was on Cook’s property. They asked levee authorities about the boil located 200 feet north of their house on Cook’s land and the response was “it’s just the groundwater table coming up, nothing to worry about.” Also, Cooke’s property as well as the Haddixes’ property had a history of boils during flood conditions; one boil just east of the Haddixes’ house was sandbagged on New Year’s Day. They noticed Country Club Rd. was covered with thousands of earthworms. At this point, Fred had several stakes in the ground on the river side of the house to track the rising water levels; at this point, Fred noted levels rising at about one inch an hour. Denise noticed the dogs digging at the bottom of their driveway and when she went over she heard running water underneath and around the house. She noticed a large sinkhole (see attached photos) and an exposed toe drain. She and Fred saw their wells “gushing clear water” about three hoses’ worth of flow (about 40-50 gpm). Cooke’s well is right next to their property and his had even larger flows, also clear. The levee authorities said that the levee would fail on the other (west)side, not the Haddixes’ side.

Fred went out and noticed a leak about 200 feet north of their garage on Cook’s property, at the base of the levee near the toe drain; it was 2 inches by 6 inches in size and muddy water was running out. However, when they asked, they were told that the water level had “crested” and that the worst was over. At 7:45 p.m., Fred and Denise spoke with their children who were, fortunately, staying with relatives because of the high river levels.

The levee patrols were in cars, not on foot. “We’re in good shape, we’ve had problems like this before.” A California Department of Forestry (CDF) truck was in their driveway at 7:30 p.m. and the Haddixes videotaped the men as they went to perform sandbagging of the boil on Cook’s property. About twenty to thirty minutes later (approximately 8 p.m.), Fred and Denise heard and then saw the men running from the boil area back to their truck full-force screaming “Go! Go! Go!” The miner’s lights on their hard hats broke through the darkness in an array of directions as they jumped in their truck and sped away. Fred said that he knew by the terror in the men’s stride and tone that the toe drain had “blown out” and they had better leave right away. Fred and Denise started to leave the house, grabbing a few things like photos and a strongbox on their way out, when the telephone rang. When Denise answered, it was their neighbor Jan Thompson (whose dog was later helicoptered from her roof) and Denise said, “We’ve got to leave, tell everyone to go!” Denise said that she made several other phone calls (she was on the cordless phone) in the few minutes before leaving and that these calls were the only notice of evacuation received by her neighbors. No authorities were around to give an evacuation order. Denise said that despite the panic she felt that she remembered wondering whether she should lock the door and turn out the lights. By the time Denise, the water was rising fast and she could hear the tires moving through water on the road. She also heard a “Pop, pop, pop!” sound, what they thought was from transformers hitting water as power lines fell. By the time Fred left the house (with a brother-in-law), he had to drive up the levee since Country Club Road was quickly becoming blocked by water (“it was coming up the driveway fast”).

On January 11 or 12, they used boats to get their valuables out (Department of Water Resources instructed them to do so). On January 14, the Army Corps told them they were taking over the house (through eminent domain) to build a berm to help rebuild part of the levee although they never built the berm. The Haddixes never signed anything releasing their house and didn’t know at the time what they would be paid for the house (since then they’ve heard that DWR determined that their property was valued at $47,000 after the flood).

Several weeks after the flood, the Haddixes attended a meeting held by Senator Diane Feinstein where the Army Corps recommended installation of a toe drain; to their embarrassment, they were informed that Reclamation District 784 had already put it in several years back (and that may have been what failed).