Developer Gives $1 Million to Red Cross for Flood Victims

SACRAMENTO — Tired flood relief workers on the swollen San Joaquin River were heartened to learn Friday that donations of more than $1 million to help flood victims were coming their way from wealthy Stockton developer Alex Spanos.

And workers in Meridian, a town of 400 people about 50 miles north of Sacramento, were cheered by a visit from Vice President Al Gore, who was touring flood damage in the West. About 200 people, including volunteers and state prison inmates, worked around the clock to build the wall when a levee on a swollen river broke early this week.

“The people who built the levees around this town so quickly are the real heroes,” Gore said.

Meanwhile, state officials announced Friday that the death toll from the floods that ravaged Northern California beginning New Year’s Day had increased by one, to seven, with at least two other people still missing.

The latest victim was a 75-year-old woman who had been driving alone in a convoy of vehicles racing to escape the flooding Feather River on Jan. 2 near Olivehurst, 40 miles north of Sacramento, Yuba County Undersheriff Gary Finch said. She and her car were swallowed by a wall of water and remained unaccounted for until Friday when her body was recovered, he said.

Flood emergency officials in Sacramento said that although flood-spawning rains had stopped over Northern California six days ago, rivers remained engorged with near-capacity flows as heavy releases continued from upstream reservoirs.

“We need to lower the levels of those reservoirs because of future runoffs” that are certain to come with future winter storms, said Jeff Cohen, of the state flood operations center.

To draw down the reservoirs, heavy flows may have to continue for “weeks or months,” Cohen said, even though it may mean further flooding from levee breaks, especially on the San Joaquin River.

Spanos, who owns 11 construction companies and the San Diego Chargers pro football team, presented a check for $1 million to American Red Cross officials in Lathrop, 10 miles south of Stockton and near an area hard hit by floods. He gave an additional $50,000 to a local relief group earlier, his office said.

On Friday, yet another levee break--the 28th on Central Valley rivers in the last week--occurred near Lathrop.

State officials said preliminary reports indicated that many acres of farmland went under, along with about 30 structures.

Also on Friday, Wilson declared states of emergency in two more counties--Merced and Santa Clara--bringing the total to 44.