Santa Clara County is getting a brief break from the rain before storms return over the weekend, prompting officials to urge residents to prepare for emergencies. In a news conference today, county officials asked residents to sign up for the AlertSCC app, an alert and warning system for flooding, power outages, road closures and mudslides....
San Jose changes rules to replenish tree canopy
San Jose is changing how it manages its shrinking urban canopy after an audit found the city is ineffectively preventing tree loss. San Jose councilmembers voted unanimously Tuesday to change how the city collects and reviews permits to remove trees, develop procedures to enforce replanting requirements and identify large locations to replant trees. There are roughly...
San Jose storms still pose flood threat
The atmospheric river storm is reaching its end, but more rain is on the way. This means the threat of flooding is real for hundreds of homes in San Jose. San Jose saw one of the highest rainfalls in the recent storm from Sunday to Monday, with close to an inch of rain falling overnight,...
Flood risk grows as San Jose expects more rain
San Jose has gone from parched earth to soggy ground after this past weekend’s soaking, and more is on the way. San Jose got nearly 1.5 inches of rainfall last weekend, with some flooding around the South Bay and more serious flooding in the San Francisco area. Some areas around San Jose’s creeks experienced flooding, primarily impacting...
Storm puts San Jose on flood watch
As the South Bay braces for a storm being fueled by an atmospheric river this weekend, San Jose residents are on alert for potential flooding. San Jose should expect up to half of an inch of rain overnight Friday and up to one inch Saturday, according to the National Weather Service. The weather service has issued a...
Silicon Valley cement plant could shut down for good
An embattled cement plant near Cupertino might lose its permit to operate next year. The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously this month to start a process to consider revoking or amending Lehigh Southwest Cement Company’s use permit. The decision comes roughly a month after the company announced it would permanently shut down its cement...
San Jose landowners stir up Coyote Valley concerns
About one year after the San Jose City Council took action to shield more than 300 acres of Coyote Valley land from development of massive distribution warehouses, several landowners are now proposing a major energy facility. Former San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed represents a group of three property owners pushing early plans to accommodate an electricity transmission...
San Jose pushes electric vehicle use in low-income areas
San Jose wants to boost electric car adoption in low-income and disadvantaged neighborhoods by eliminating “charging deserts” and adding incentives to make juicing up more attractive for residents. As part of a pilot program unanimously approved by the San Jose City Council Tuesday, the city will work with vendors to install banks of electric vehicle (EV)...
Santa Clara County cement facility shuttering for good
A massive cement plant near Cupertino that has run afoul of regulators thousands of times will be shuttered permanently. Lehigh Southwest Cement Company said it will not restart its cement kiln at its 3,510-acre Permanente Quarry and Cement Plant. The company’s property is located largely in the hills of unincorporated Santa Clara County, with portions...
San Jose invests in solar power to reach climate goals
San Jose plans to spend hundreds of millions of dollars over the next two decades to meet its carbon neutral goals, including utilizing solar power. On Tuesday, the city council approved four contracts worth an estimated $530 million to build out the city’s battery storage to access and store more solar energy through its San Jose Clean Energy...