Malibu West Not Getting City Flood Protections Due To Private Streets

The recent fires have placed several Malibu neighborhoods in severe flood risk.

Just how little rain it would take to trigger muddy water to enter houses was made clear last night by city public works director Rob DuBoux … who showed new flood prediction maps.

They show the predicted effects of just a two year flood … the type of rainstorm that can be expected once every two years.

Malibu West … about 40 houses along Paseo Canyon near Trancas Creek … are in the high flood risk area.

While county crews are removing accumulated rocks from debris basins uphill from the subdivision …. city crews are not able to place cement railings or sandbags in the Malibu West neighborhood … DeBoux said.

That’s because Malibu West streets are private …  and the city is constitutionally prohibited from going onto private streets to place flood control devices.

DuBoux told public safety commissioners at last night’s meeting that he would recommend placing concrete K-rails on Paseo Canyon … in Malibu West … to divert storm water away from houses.

Last week’s storm dropped about 5 inches of rain in Malibu West … just on the verge of causing major flooding …

Other Malibu neighborhoods are marked red in the 2 year flood maps …. but they don’t have as many houses as Malibu West.

Those neighborhoods include Ramirez Canyon and the Sycamore Park area. 

And Malibu Park … the houses north and west of Malibu High School.

There … the city and county flood engineers are talking about installing a debris basins above Cuthbert Avenue … to prevent the rock flows that are jamming storm drains and causing mud flows all the way down to Pacific Coast Highway.