Local State of Emergency Is Declared : Hawaiian Gardens: Officials offer up to $2,000 in aid to help fix storm damage. Some residents criticize city’s flood response.

Officials in rain-soaked Hawaiian Gardens, saying that last week’s flooding was the worst to hit the city in decades, declared a local state of emergency and offered grants of up to $2,000 to help needy residents repair storm damage.

A prolonged downpour Jan. 4 overwhelmed storm drains in the mile-square city, flooding about 124 homes. The most severe flooding occurred in a 14-square-block area west of Norwalk Boulevard and south of Carson Street.

Residents mopped up after that disaster, fearing new storms would add to the damage. But the rains last weekend and on Tuesday did not cause any new flooding.

Despite officials’ offers of aid, several residents complained at the City Council meeting that the city did not do enough to prevent the flooding.

Horst Avenue resident Crescencia Martinez said the city had plenty of time before floodwaters started rising to distribute sandbags in low-lying parts of town but did not act promptly.

When water began creeping up the driveway toward her one-story, three-bedroom home, she stopped some city workers who were driving through her neighborhood and asked for help. “They said, ‘We’ll be back,’ but they didn’t come,” Martinez said. “They could’ve brought us some sandbags, but they didn’t.”

Within hours, every room in her house had three inches of muddy water, she said.

Many other homes between Norwalk Boulevard, 221st Street, Devlin Avenue and 226th Street were flooded with up to a foot of water. The 34 ground-floor apartments at a senior citizens housing complex on 226th Street were damaged.

City Administrator Nelson Oliva defended the city’s response to the crisis.

City employees fanned out into the community during the storm and helped residents hold back rising floodwaters, led some people to higher ground, swept water out of houses and directed traffic, he said.

“Our crews did the best they could with the resources they had,” he said. “I’m satisfied with what we did, but I’m not satisfied with the county flood-control system.”

Oliva said he plans to meet with county officials to discuss ways to improve drainage in the hardest-hit area west of Norwalk Boulevard and south of Carson Street.

But Oliva said he also accepts the county’s explanation that its vast network of storm drains was not designed to handle so much rain--up to 5 inches in some places--in a few hours.

But the excuses did not wash with Raul Chavez, whose home on Funston Avenue took on a foot of water when a storm drainage channel that runs parallel to Juan Avenue overflowed. He said the city could have prevented the flooding.

“I’ve never seen them clean the gutters,” he said.

Randy Barrett, whose Elaine Avenue home was flooded, said he saw many discarded Christmas trees clogging storm drains.

“I don’t know whose job it is to pick them up, but they should’ve been picked up before the storm,” he said.

Oliva said city workers clean streets and gutters every week, but some storm drains became clogged with debris from flooded yards.

Ralph Cesena, a planning commissioner for 30 years, said last week’s flooding was the worst he has seen since the city added paved streets, curbs, gutters and storm drains in the 1960s.

“Up until this storm, we were doing pretty good,” said Cesena, 64, who has lived in Hawaiian Gardens since 1933. “We normally stay fairly dry. But it just came down all at one time last week.”

The council approved Oliva’s plan to use federal Community Development block grant money to provide grants of up $2,000 to low-income residents. The city had initially planned to offer up to $5,000, but a door-to-door survey by city workers determined that a $2,000 maximum was sufficient.

In addition, residents will be eligible for grants, low-interest loans and other forms of assistance now that President Clinton has declared the county a federal disaster area. By declaring a local state of emergency, the city will be eligible to seek reimbursement of its flood-related expenses.

Long Beach officials also declared a state of emergency because of severe flooding. Last week’s storm caused an estimated $13 million in damage to homes, businesses and city property. One man died, apparently from carbon monoxide poisoning, when his car became stuck in a flooded intersection and water rose above the tailpipe.