Kern County supervisors at a special meeting approved a proclamation of local emergency after a Sept. 18 storm caused widespread flooding and infrastructure damage in eastern parts of the county, including a failure of a transmission main that left Randsburg-area residents under a boil-water notice.

The action, moved by Supervisor Philip Peters and approved by a voice vote recorded as “all ayes,” authorizes the board chair to sign a proclamation of local emergency and directs county staff to submit a request for assistance under the California Disaster Assistance Act, county officials said.

The declaration is intended to make the county eligible for state reimbursement under the California Disaster Assistance Act, which county emergency officials said can reimburse up to about 70% of eligible repair costs once a local spending threshold is met.

Greg Frazier, identified in the record as a board director and the newly appointed emergency coordinator for the local water district serving the affected area, told the board a major leak near Randsburg destroyed roughly 150 feet of transmission pipeline during the storm. He said the district shut down the system to protect storage and restored service after temporary repairs on the evening of Sept. 20. “A boil water notice was posted on September 20 and remains in effect while compliance sampling proceeds,” Frazier said.

Frazier and other district officials described the system as vulnerable because a single transmission main runs roughly 7 miles from the wells to storage tanks. He said temporary repairs are not sustainable and that the district’s technical team recommends replacement of the approximately 7-mile main, primarily within the roadway corridor, using high-density polyethylene (HDPE) pipe fused in long segments “to minimize joints and leak points.” Frazier gave a rough order-of-magnitude cost of about $6,000,000 for the replacement and asked the board for county support to help fund the project and fast-track permits and environmental clearances.

Leonard Acosta, identified as the office manager for the local water district, said residents had been relying on bottled water and were facing lost wages and hardship, especially seniors and people on fixed incomes. “We are a small system with very limited reserves,” Acosta said, adding that temporary repairs “will not hold through a storm even a third of what we saw last week.”

The county fire chief, who also serves as the county’s director of emergency services and spoke in that capacity, provided preliminary damage assessments for county infrastructure and communities. He said unincorporated county road damage is initially estimated in the $4 million to $5 million range, with specific damage isolating the Garlock/Randsburg cutoff from Highway 14 to Highway 395. The city of California City reported road and storm-drain damage estimated between $700,000 and $900,000, the chief said.

The chief reported that the Randsburg community sustained significant roadway damage and that assessments identified eight commercial structures and 10 residential structures with damage, plus about 30 lots with severe mud, debris and erosion. He described canceled local events and impacts to emergency and fire protection if the water main fails again.

Explaining the purpose of the local proclamation, the chief said the county needs a formal declaration to apply for state assistance through the Office of Emergency Services. “Typically, they have a threshold of 4.5 million dollars before you qualify,” he said, and county staff believe damages will meet that threshold.

Supervisor Philip Peters, who called the special meeting, moved adoption of the resolution. After the motion was seconded, the board voted with all members recorded as in favor and approved the proclamation and authorization for staff to seek state disaster assistance. The transcript records the vote as “all ayes”; individual vote tallies were not provided in the meeting record.

County staff and public-safety officials told the board they would continue damage assessments and refine cost estimates and that additional requests for state or federal assistance could follow as assessments are completed. The board’s action authorizes staff to submit the initial request under the California Disaster Assistance Act and to pursue other appropriate assistance.

Officials asked the public and the affected communities to follow boil-water notices and public-safety guidance while sampling and repairs continue. The county also said it would coordinate permitting and environmental review if a permanent pipeline replacement moves forward.

The meeting closed after the board received public input and approved the proclamation; no further items were on the special meeting agenda.