Merced officials renew pleas to stay away from Bear Creek, as rain brings more rising water

Merced city officials renewed their pleas for residents to stay away from Bear Creek and its bike paths, as the waters are expected to rise Monday afternoon due to rain.

Jim Bagnall, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Hanford, said the creek is expected to reach a depth of 21.8 feet Monday afternoon, just barely under the flood stage threshold of 23 feet.

As of Monday around 9 a.m., the McKee Road gauge at the creek measured at a depth of around 15 feet.

Bagnall said heavy thunderstorms are expected in Merced on Monday afternoon into the evening, with the weather expected to clear up by Tuesday.

Merced Battalion Chief Mickey Brunelli was at McKee Road and South Bear Creek Drive monitoring Bear Creek’s water level on Monday.

Brunelli said one of the fire department’s major concerns is that people stay off the paths running along Bear Creek due to the danger of the the ground caving in.

“Our concern is that there’s a lot of damage to the edge of the creek banks themselves, and if you go down the creek bank you can see in several areas the side is actually sloughing away,” said Brunelli.

Brunelli said the extent of the damage along the creek is unknown at this time and that officials are working to assess it, but there are still some areas that are unstable.

“We don’t know at what point they’re going to fail, if they do,” he said.

“We’re trying to keep residents off the bike path and away from the edge of the creek because the danger to them is if they’re standing there on a weak point when it fails, they’re going to fall into the creek ... And with with the water flowing at the speed that it is, it makes it hard for us to get to them and help them.”

According to Brunelli, the fire department is not aware of any large areas of flooding at this time throughout the city following assessments Monday morning.

Jennifer Flachman, City of Merced public information officer, said flood warnings remain in effect for many parts of the city.

Flachman said city officials are continuing to monitor the banks of the creek and the bike paths that run along it.

The ground around the creek is extremely saturated with water, plus tree branches are falling in some areas, which could pose another danger.

While no deaths have been reported in Merced County due to flooding, there have been 19 flood-related deaths statewide, some of whom were children.

The Merced area received .32 inches of rain Sunday and .73 inches on Saturday. The weather service estimates the Merced area has received 3.81 inches during the last week, Jan. 8-15.

This story was originally published January 16, 2023 at 10:09 AM.