Cathedral City spending $3M to remove soil that Hilary left under bridges

Cathedral City is spending $3 million to remove soil that accumulated in the Whitewater River Channel streambed underneath two bridges after Hilary, a major storm that hit the Coachella Valley in August and caused intense flooding.

Flood water in the channel carried soil and debris that raised its streambed elevation, which could damage the structures of the Ofelia Bringas Memorial Bridge and Date Palm Bridge. The soil and debris raised the streambed 7 to 10 feet at numerous parts.

City hopes to get part of money back

The city council unanimously awarded a construction contract to Contera Construction Corporation on Wednesday to remove the soil. The $3,094,099.15 agreement includes a 15% contingency in case there are unforeseen costs. Councilmembers also amended the city's general fund budget to add that much spending, but City Manager Charlie McClendon said the city believes the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services will reimburse the city for a lot of the cost.

City staff plan to present a budget analysis of the fiscal year 2024-25 in October that will show the impact of the soil removal from underneath the bridges and potential ways to prevent more decreases from the city's fund balance, McClendon added. The city expects the FEMA reimbursement will take awhile to receive.

Councilmember Raymond Gregory said the city knew it was going to have Hilary-related expenses but wanted the public and council to be aware of the full financial picture.

"We are technically digging ourselves further in a hole with some strong thoughts of reimbursement, but ... the city manager and the finance department is on top of that and it's going to be revealed to us in October, we would expect," he said.

How much soil needs to be removed?

Cathedral City estimates it will have to remove 110,000 cubic yards of soil.

"The scope of this project and the part that actually is eligible for the reimbursements is to uncover the drop structures and the channel linings and the piers to make sure there's no damage to the bridge," McClendon said.

He added there is always the potential that more debris could gather in future storms, but said it's not feasible for any agency to clear the channel out miles downstream due to the amount of dirt. It is the valley's main floodwater river channel, according to a city staff report.

"We're responsible for maintaining under the bridge," said John Corella, the city's director of engineering and public works.

What comes next?

The city will have the bridges inspected after the soil removal. Corella said he is confident the bridges are OK, but that the amount of soil there merits the inspection.

"We cannot inspect the bridge piers or the abutments until this soil's removed, so its an open project with FEMA right now," he said. "The soil needs to be removed because the bridge inspection is the Part B and if there is damage to the bridge, then that can be eligible for reimbursement, too."

Ani Gasparyan covers the western Coachella Valley cities of Desert Hot Springs and Cathedral City. Reach her at ani.gasparyan@desertsun.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Cathedral City spending $3M to remove soil that Hilary left under bridges