Service Maintenance responds to tropical storm Hilary

by Ruth Osborn

rutho@lwsb.com

Tropical Storm Hilary tossed debris on the shore in Seal Beach, downed tree limbs and flooded roads in Leisure World when she roared through Aug. 20, but all in all, she left a minimal mark here.

Hilary did break rainfall totals, and it was feared she would wreak havoc all around, but LW was spared heavy flooding and longterm damage. Thanks to the quick response of LW Security and Service Maintenance crews who worked during the torrential downpour, the aftereffects were minimal here.

“It was safety first,” said Service Maintenance Director Ruben Gonzalez. More than a dozen men volunteered to work throughout the weekend, clearing downed branches, monitoring storm drains, scrapping mud off sidewalks, closing skylights, spreading tarps across leaky roofs and and clearing lines and street gutters to minimize the chance of flooding, “We were so short-handed, the dispatcher worked with who we had, and we answered every call,” said Gonzalez, giving special acknowledgment to Service Maintenance Manager Aaron Hensley and the team who volunteered to work in the storm: Javier (Bear) Moreno, Nathan Skaggs, Gabe Quintanilla, Garrett Madrid, Oscar Muñoz, Neiko Skaggs, Alex Acebo, Alex Ramirez, Rafael Rodriguez, Steve Staley, Antonio Bretado, Lance Cannon and Don Johnson.

Seal Beach received almost 2 inches of rain during the storm.