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As more harsh winds and downpours pound Northern California, authorities are warning San Joaquin County residents to avoid driving.

"Avoid travel as much as possible until this week’s atmospheric river weather event subsides," Caltrans advised residents Wednesday morning.

Driving conditions may be difficult or impossible, and roads and urban areas could flood quickly as more rain pummels already saturated soil, the National Weather Service said.

If you must drive in or around Stockton, several road closures could further impact your route amid the storm.

Everything to know for California storm prep: Stockton parks close, sandbag locations

Crews at work in Stockton; road closures

Sections of major roads, including French Camp Road, Swain Road and Hammer Lane are closed, according to storm updates from the city of Stockton.

Get the list of road closures by visiting the city's website.

"With this rain that we just had, you're starting to see water collect out near the same locations where it's been before, those same intersections," city spokesperson Connie Cochran said.

Public works crews may be seen Wednesday monitoring pumping stations, cleaning catch basins and using vacuum trucks to unclog drains if necessary, Cochran said.

Storm's impact on Central Valley freeways

On Interstate 5 near the Crosstown Freeway, one of two northbound lanes is closed due to a "roadway wash-out," according to a Caltrans incident map.

Road wash-outs can occur when a drainage culvert becomes blocked, said Bob Highfill, a spokesman for Caltrans.

"Underneath the roads are these culverts, or drainage pipes. They move surface water, and keep it (from) spilling onto the roadway," he said. "Debris can flow into them. It's basically a clogged pipe."

To clear wash-outs, crews first remove any vegetation, branches and other debris collected on the drain, said Skip Allum, a Caltrans spokesperson for San Joaquin County.

"If it's clogged up like a sink, then they've got to use a vac truck," similar to how a drain snake can be used to unclog a sink or toilet, he said.

Caltrans crews hauled about 10 truckloads of debris out of the water on Tuesday when Highway 99 north of French Camp Road washed out, Allum said.

Do not drive during a storm

If you must drive, "reduce speed and follow at a safe distance, inspect wipers and replace if needed, don’t use cruise control, check headlights, inflate tires to the correct pressures and check tread," Caltrans advises.

Do not try to drive through flood water. Just one foot of water can carry off a small car, and 18-24 inches can sweep away trucks, vans and SUVs. Avoid bridges over fast-moving water, as the water could wash away the bridge without warning, the Department of Homeland Security advises.

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If your car stalls, get out immediately and find higher ground, unless you're surrounded by fast-moving water. If you are trapped in your car in fast-moving water, stay inside. You should get on the roof of the car and flag down help if water is rising inside the vehicle, according to FEMA.

As the storm hits San Joaquin County on Wednesday afternoon, Caltrans crews will be "patrolling at all times," Allum said.

"They'll be checking all of it," Allum said, "they'll be scanning to see if there are any drains that are clogged, keeping their eyes on canals."

Record reporter Aaron Leathley covers public safety. She can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @LeathleyAaron. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record athttps://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.

A regional approach led by the San Joaquin Council of Governments could end up establishing a truck route corridor to address growing issues with trucks in the northern areas of both Manteca and Lathrop.

If it is successful it will eventually create a truck route with all of the necessary improvements to accommodate truck movements as well as automobiles, pedestrians, bicyclists and rail.

Dubbed the “Roth Road Corridor Study”, it will identify necessary improvements to create a freight corridor between Interstate 5 and Highway 99. It would do so by using Roth Road from I-5 to Airport Way, then Airport Way to French Camp Road, then French Camp Road to Highway 99.

Such a route — assuming an interior road in the CenterPoint Business Park currently anchored by Amazon, 5.11 Tactical and Penske/Lowe’s Home Improvement is built — would handle all truck traffic from current and future distribution centers in Manteca along Airport Way north of Del Webb.

More importantly it would address movements to and from the 900-pound gorilla when it comes to truck traffic in both Manteca and Lathrop — the Union Pacific Railroad intermodal facility in San Joaquin County jurisdiction off of Roth Road that is wedged in a no-man’s land between the two cities.

Currently the UP intermodal facility can “lift” — remove and place truck trailers on specially designed railroad flat cars — on some 270,000 container a year. At its county approved build-out that number will reach 730,000 lifts.

The average daily truck trips to and from the UP facility would go from 954 today to 2,186 at complete build-out. It would mean the average number of trucks per hour leaving or departing the intermodal facility would go from 39.75 every hour to 91. Weekend traffic is 5 to 10 percent of work day traffic. Monday would be the heaviest day for truck movement at build-out with 2,585 trips compared to 1,056 in the most recent count.

Such a truck route could take a truck route for the Airport Way corridor off the table or potentially reduce it to segments instead. That’s because there is apparently an offer in the works by a developer to buy the property and development rights for 760 homes of the Villa Ticino West project on the southwest corner of Louise Avenue and Airport Way.

The city’s current general plan update that is still being processed is calling for that land and the balance of the Villa Ticino West project that included roughly 300 apartments and commercial along Louise Avenue to be converted to a business park with more than 3 million square feet of distribution center space. Given the land is already entitled for 1,060 housing units homes can legally be built there despite what the next general plan update says

If that happens, the need to send trucks down Airport Way to the 120 Bypass would be eliminated. However the city still needs a legal truck route for moving freight to and from Medline and the Amazon Prime on Louise Avenue and any industrial development the city may allow on West Yosemite Avenue west of Airport Way.

The only way to avoid Airport Way is for the trucks to be sent to the McKinley Avenue interchange at the 120 Bypass that Manteca continues to move closer to completion. Most of McKinley Avenue to make that work, however, is within the city limits of Lathrop.

It is not out of the realm of possibility given the stretches of Yosemite and Louise to reach McKinley in Lathrop as well as McKinley south to Yosemite in Lathrop have existing industrial uses and is in position to develop more.

It would require Manteca negotiating with Lathrop and likely agreeing to foot part of the cost for truck route improvements, however, for that to occur.

It would be similar to efforts SJCOG is pursuing on the Roth Road Corridor Study. The overall study pegged at $300,000 will be a cooperative effort that includes Manteca, Lathrop, San Joaquin County and SJCOG. Each agency would be required to contribute $75,000 each to the cost

The study will then identify improvements needed and the pro-rated share each jurisdiction would pay based on current and future industrial and business park uses.

The trucking issues in northwest Manteca are somewhat different than what is plaguing much of the rest of the city although there is some over lap.

The illegal truck parking problem consists of independent and contract drivers who typically have their own truck cabs and may also have their own trailers or pull those of a firm they are hauling for.

They are not tied to distribution centers in Manteca nor are they parked there because of a need to take a break from driving under federal law. They are basically people that live in Manteca — or nearby — who have their own rigs and need a place to park them when they go home after work.

Instead of using commercial lots they opt to save money and park on Manteca’s city streets.

That said a number of the trailers moved in and out of the UP intermodal facility are done so by independents.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email [email protected]

This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

FRENCH CAMP, Calif. (KTXL) — Repeatedly trashed and vandalized, a 111-year-old Jewish cemetery in San Joaquin County is finally getting cleaned up.

So far, 12,000 pounds of trash have been hauled away, including tires destined for the recycling center. A volunteer San Joaquin County Jail inmate rolled off with one on Thursday, a small but helpful part of a major cleanup that Marc Corren had worked so hard for.

“If you saw the garbage I’ve hauled out of here the last two years,” says Marc Corren, a volunteer at Temple Israel of Stockton. “It became obvious to me that if not for you, who are you expecting to protect sacred ground?”

Corren said over the past two years, he has felt profound sadness with the piles of trash and human waste that have littered the cemetery.

“Imagine coming in to see the graves of your parents and you find that someone’s in here cooking food that’s illegally tapped into your electrical system,” he said.

Vandals have also used the gravestones to dry their clothes, along with tearing down the back fence and destroying the cemetery’s pump.

“(They) left the hose on for 24 hours,” Corren said. “Hundreds of gallons went onto the ground and made that grave sink.”

The cemetery is run by a network of volunteers who tried their best to fix the mess, but Corren said people kept breaking in. So, he reached out to law enforcement, as well as city and county leaders.

“The great Sheriff Withrow. He took this and championed our cause,” Corren told FOX40.

Deputy Alan Sanchez of the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Department said not only was the cleanup important, providing local resources was integral.

“We’re gonna do our best to not only eradicate that area but also offer services to the people who live here,” Sanchez said.

Some of the damage is still left, but Corren’s gratitude is limitless, especially given his family history.

“My father liberated a Nazi concentration camp, a death camp,” he said. “So, I do it out of respect for him.”

Corren estimates the damage at more than $10,000. He said he will be raising funds to help pay for the repairs.

The San Joaquin County Grand Jury thinks that it is past time for the French Camp McKinley Fire District to be consolidated with a neighboring agency.

In a scathing report released on Thursday, the grand jury questioned the French Camp McKinley Fire District’s ability to provide essential services to important county complexes like the San Joaquin County Jail and San Joaquin General Hospital and recommended that the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors conduct an independent review to determine the feasibility of the ongoing service arrangement.

After a tumultuous year which led to a shakeup of the independent district’s top brass – including the dismissal of some personnel and the extended leave of Fire Chief Fred Manding – the report details a culture of backbiting, ongoing litigation, and generally poor morale coupled with inadequate financial management, financial misconduct, and virtually nonexistent board oversight.

The toxic culture in the workplace alone, the report states, has cost the district more than $400,000 in lawsuits with several more currently pending. In a table that outlines the number of grievances that have been filed and investigations that have been conducted over the past six years, French Camp – which only has 16 firefighters – has had at least 12 and was second only to Stockton, which employs 179 firefighters, which only had 14.

The Lathrop Manteca Fire District, for example, which has more than double the number of firefighters as French Camp McKinley, only had one grievance filed while the Ripon, Escalon, and Mokelumne Fire Districts had none.

Part of what allowed that culture to exist, the report stated, was little to no oversight by the district’s Board of Directors – whose opinions of the status of the workplace varied drastically. One board member that was interviewed, according to the report, estimated that there were between 15 and 20 grievances that were filed over the last five years, while another estimated the number between 2 and 3.

Part of the issue, according to the grand jury, is that the district doesn’t have a clear policy manual to set workplace expectations of the employees that work there. While French Camp McKinley did purchase a policy template from a private, for-profit company in 2016 that was supposed to be customized to fit the unique needs of the agency, that work never appears to have been completed.

And since “significant ongoing changes to the California Fire Code require updates to policies and procedures as statutes, case law, and regulations change,” the need to “regularly” update the Policy Manual would also “communicate clear and concise policy guidance to employees,” according to the grand jury’s report.

Other findings include:

uPast investigations into personnel issues determined that the district had a very high likelihood of facing “severe litigation” due to the “actions of individuals employed by the district and the inaction of Board members in resolving employee issues.”

uA Battalion Chief’s behaviors warranted a “serious written reprimand and the recommended disciplinary action was not implemented.”

uAlleged final misconduct by District employees was “identified by the Interim Fire Chief and confirmed by the County Auditor-Controller’s office” and may end up costing the District over $100,000. The entire situation went “undetected by the Board of Directors Finance Subcommittee.”

The grand jury also claimed that inadequate testing procedures within the department allowed for less qualified candidates to be promoted into positions that “require them to make decisions based on qualifications, training, and experience” – something that jeopardized public safety.

The ensuing fallout of the report could spell an end to the independent district as it now known if the recommendations are adopted by the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors and the agencies that are under its control.

The report clearly calls into question the district’s ability to adequately protect some of San Joaquin County’s most vital assets, noting that the “absence of steady leadership, excessive turnover of personnel, and financial instability” means that their ability to serve those facilities and the constituents is “questionable.”

In the report’s conclusion, the grand jury pulled no punches on what its findings mean for the district or the people that they are sworn to serve.

“French Camp McKinley Fire District has been struggling on multiple fronts for the last decade and is currently in disarray. Continual turnover of the Fire Chief position and failed oversight by the District’s Board of Directors has exposed the District to expensive investigations and litigation,” the conclusion reads. “Although the Interim Fire Chief has made progress in his short tenure at the District, the process required to transform the District into a fully functional, efficient Fire District will take many years at best. The constituents of this District, and the hard-working firefighters that serve them, deserve better.”

And efforts to move towards consolidation are already underway.

The neighboring Lathrop Manteca Fire District has already publicly expressed interest in pushing for a takeover after a flap over who got to provide service to the Flying J Truck Stop on Roth Road resulted in a sliver of the City of Lathrop falling under the jurisdiction of French Camp McKinley despite the fact that it doesn’t have a hazardous materials program in place to handle a major spill – something that the grand jury report reiterated.

While the neighboring districts have long had a working relationship, tensions over the decision by LAFCO to create an island in the City of Lathrop – the first time since the city was incorporated in 1989 that Lathrop Manteca didn’t provide fire service for all property inside of Lathrop’s city limit – led to administrators at Lathrop Manteca requesting access to the district’s financials to determine the financial feasibility of combining jurisdictions.

The French Camp McKinley Fire District will have 90 days from the receipt of the report to submit responses to all of the report’s findings and will largely have until the end of the year to meet the recommendations. The San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors will also have to respond to the recommendation that they study whether French Camp McKinley is the most viable option to protect the county’s vital assets moving forward.

To contact reporter Jason Campbell email [email protected] or call 209.249.3544.

Veterans were thrilled to finally see their clinic dream become a reality.

FRENCH CAMP, Calif. — Stockton Army veteran Brownie Elder wanted to see for herself, the beginnings of a new VA Clinic, years in the making.

She came out along with other veterans and dignitaries for the today's official groundbreaking ceremony for the new Stockton VA Clinic located next to the San Joaquin General Hospital.

"Starting right here and seeing this process, it means a lot. It means a lot," said Elder, who served as a combat veteran in the Army from 1978-1996.

While there is already a temporary Stockton VA Clinic in French Camp, this new $143 million facility will be more than ten times the size and cater to an anticipated 25,000 veterans.

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By contrast, the existing clinic currently serves 15,000 veterans.

"This is a new method. A new way of doing healthcare and our mental health will be embedded in the same clinic, so the mental health, primary care all comes to the veteran, one room," said Thomas Fitzgerald, Director of the Palo Alto Health Care System.

The biggest complaint for San Joaquin County veterans is the drive they need to take to get VA medical treatment. Right now, veterans must drive to clinics in Palo Alto or Livermore.

But, soon with the new clinic the drive will be much shorter.

"I was just over at Livermore the other day. It's an hour, hour and half drive just to go to Livermore," said Lodi Air Force Veteran Kenneth Kramlich, who served from 1960-1964.

"The veterans that are in San Joaquin County have to get on a bus at 7:30 in the morning to get to Livermore or to Palo Alto for, like I said, a 15 minute appointment, and they're there all day," added Elder.

Congressman Jerry McNerney worked more than a decade to get the federal funding to make a veteran's healthcare commute a whole lot easier.

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"And, as I've been on a ride-a-long with one of those veterans, a four-hour drive in traffic - you got a short visit, and you got a four-hour drive back. It's just unacceptable," said Representative Jerry McNerney, whose 9th District includes Stockton, Lodi and Galt.

Construction is expected to be completed in two years.

A new 80-bed veterans Community Living Center housing complex will be built nearby as well.

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