The torrential rains of this past week hit Red Bluff hard, especially Samuel Ayer Park.
Red Bluff City Manager Tom Westbrook said he’d heard the water had reached almost to the roof of the park’s restrooms.
“It was probably five to six feet deep," Westbrook said.
The park is used for a city-sanctioned homeless encampment. When the rain hit, a few dozen unhoused residents were living there in tents tucked away in the park’s trees and tall grasses.
Local homeless advocate Randy Dueck said the people living there have lost everything.
"Any documents and important papers and like driver's licenses and things like that," Dueck said. "All their food's gone, all the tents and sleeping bags are gone."
He said many are in need of dry clothes as well.
"Socks seem to be one of their biggest needs all the time but more of them have asked for socks today and yesterday than like the last month or so," he said.
Some residents were able to stay at the PATH Plaza, a local homeless shelter that opened last year. Others were given motel vouchers. For those who weren't able to find a place to stay in town, Dueck said they'll likely return to living in the park after the waters subside.
"This happened a couple of years ago," Dueck said. "It's not like this is the first time."
An emergency resource center has been opened by the city and the group PneumaCare at the Red Bluff Community Center. People can get tents, sleeping bags and food there, as well as transportation to emergency shelters.
The Red Cross has opened an emergency shelter south of Red Bluff in the Los Molinos Veterans Hall.
