The Southern California region had its wettest December in more than 120 years in 2010, setting historical records in many cities. Areas around Los Angeles collected more than 14 inches of rain and the two typically wettest months of the year are still to come, January and February.

Orange County was the first of 11 counties to declare a State of Emergency during the late December winter storms that enveloped the region for the better part of a week. But officials said the recovery and clean-up will be a much longer process. Mariposa County was the final county to declare an emergency on December 30.

The California Emergency Management Agency (Cal EMA) was concerned that many of the recent burn areas in Southern California would be areas for potentially flooding and debris flow. For these already damaged grounds, it takes merely a quarter-inch of rain to cause movement.

More than 200 homes were evacuated in La Canada Flintridge and La Crescenta, near Glendale. Officials said the heavy flooding in that area was due to the nearby hillsides that were heavy burn areas in 2009 and mudslides occurred in the same area in February 2010. This area was also near the Station Fire of August and October 2009, which burned 161,000 acres and destroyed 89 homes.

In Highland, Calif. a local state of emergency was declared after high water levels caused flooding in the City Creek area and other streams. The strong flows caused the Boulder Avenue Bridge to collapse. A 67-year-old female Pasadena resident died after her car was swept away in flood waters near the 71 Freeway in Chino, near Highland and San Bernardino. She died in a local hospital shortly after an anonymous man pulled her through the sunroof of her vehicle to stable ground.

Just between a five day period in Riverside and San Bernardino Counties, Cal FIRE responded to weather-related events with 797 personnel, three Engines, 38 fire crews at 272 flooding incidents. Urban Search and Rescue crews also performed more than 60 water rescues.

A northbound section of Highway 330, a twisting mountain road, completely disintegrated due to the heavy rains in the San Bernardino National Forest.

The Southern California storms also shutdown Coaster and Amtrak train service between Oceanside and San Diego. North County Transit District said the closure was due to high water in the Sorrento Valley and debris flows in Encinitas. The California Highway Patrol reported many dozens of road closures, just in San Diego County alone. Sections of Interstate 5 and Interstate 80 were flooded as well. QualComm Stadium, in San Diego, was half under water with a scheduled event the same day as it was flooded.

After half of its annual rain fall in just one week, some communities in Eastern Los Angeles were overcome with flooding and mudslides. Entire homes were filled to the ceiling with debris and mud. Laguna Beach's entire downtown area was covered in a thick coat of sandy mud.

During the storms, Cal EMA's Office of Public Information urged people to follow the agency's guidelines for flood safety and flood preparedness (found here and here).

 Several thousand homes in Arnold in Calaveras County and Twain Harte in Tuolumne County were without power for five days due to snow storms. At the request of Calaveras and Tuolumne Counties, the American Red Cross opened and is staffing two warming centers, one in Arnold and one in Twain Harte. The warming centers remained open until the power was restored.

The National Guard opened multiple armories to serve as warming centers and shelters for those stricken by flood and cold weather conditions.

Brawley, California is a small desert a few miles southeast of the Salton Sea, inside the Imperial Valley of Southern California. In the local area, it is known for scorching temperatures in the summers and the local high school Wildcats tenacious football team in the fall and winter. But Brawley is also known for the number of earthquakes that shakeup the town.

This month more than 100 earthquakes rumbled through the low desert town over the span of just a few days. Geologists call this phenomenon "quake swarm" and the quakes shook up much of the Imperial Valley area and Southern California. The largest of the swarm was a 4.4 quake that hit just east of the San Diego area. Between Dec. 13 and Dec. 15 about 130 quakes in all were recorded rumbling through Brawley.

Brawley was also shaken up during the Easter Sunday 7.2 earthquake that rattled much of Southern California and Northern Mexico.

On Dec. 14, in the midst of Brawley's quake swarm, FEMA and Cal EMA signed a formal plan on how state and federal agencies will operate during and after a major earthquake. Approximately 1,500 emergency responders worked on the Southern California Catastrophic Earthquake Response Plan, which lays out the deployment of resources during a large scale event along the San Andreas Fault, an area which includes Brawley.

A similar operations plan was signed two years ago for Northern California.

On December 7, 2010, the California Emergency Management Agency Acting Secretary Mike Dayton showcased the progress and innovation in protecting critical infrastructure during remarks welcoming federal and state officials from around the country to the Critical Infrastructure and Key Resources Capabilities for Fusion Centers Workshop, a joint U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Department of Justice workshop.

"California's vast, complex and interdependent infrastructure systems and assets present a multitude of security and safety challenges, surpassing those faced by other countries, territories or regions," Acting Sec. Dayton said. "Our critical infrastructure program that we have put into place helps to build a safer, more secure, and more resilient California."

The workshop is designed to accelerate the implementation of baseline CIKR protection capabilities, many of which were developed in California by Cal EMA. The workshop is also intended to build on the foundation established by the Critical Infrastructure and Key Resources Protection Capabilities for Fusion Centers. In addition, the workshop is attempting to help the process of integrating the critical infrastructure protection aspect of safety and security into fusion centers, entities designed to share information between various federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies and the private sector to detect threats and protect lives and property.

The accomplishments of Cal EMA's Critical Infrastructure Protection Division include:

�California was the first state in the nation to integrate the realm of critical infrastructure protection into the fusion centers

� The administration and training of almost 500 users of the Automated Critical Asset Management System, which houses critical information of 13,000 assets

� The protected Critical Infrastructure Information Program, safeguarding information shared with Cal EMA by the private sector

"We have high expectations of our fusion centers," Acting Sec. Dayton said. "We expect them to embed critical infrastructure analysts within their operations. We expect timely and relevant products that are sector-specific. We expect our critical infrastructure program to be driven by intelligence, and we expect our CIKR analysts to help us develop timely training and exercise programs based upon the evolving terrorist tactics."

"It is imperative that we continue developing these programs, strategies and templates to provide our public and private sector the best protection possible, and it's encouraging to see our efforts being showcased and used as templates for much of what is happening in the rest of the country," Acting Sec. Dayton. "California's strategies have achieved unprecedented progress with fast-paced and workable solutions, which are fundamental to design and gain support for the broad range of services California can offer public and private infrastructure stakeholders."

On Dec. 17, 2010, Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced an anti-gang initiative to fight gang violence in multiple locations throughout the state. The California Gang Reduction, Intervention and Prevention Program (CalGRIP) targets more than $48 in funding toward localized anti-gang endeavors.

Some of these efforts will include job training, education and intervention programs for law enforcement officials. Former Gov. Schwarzenegger will also appoint a statewide gang coordinator to handle the multitude of programs CalGRIP initiates.

"My administration is committed to fighting gang violence with a comprehensive approach that will keep our youth on the right track with early intervention and coordinated anti-gang efforts," said former Gov. Schwarzenegger. "These grants will help support California's local communities to prevent and fight gang violence, making our streets safer."

The Governor's Office of Gang and Youth Violence Policy selected 24 recipients, of 36 applications, through the grant process. The panels that oversaw the selection process for CalGRIP were a blend of sheriff, police and probation departments, local government, state grant administrators and schools and community-based organizations.

"Part of the Governor's anti-gang initiative was to bring additional resources to our local communities to help combat gang violence and prevent at-risk youth from joining gangs," said Paul Seave, director of the Governor's OGYVP. "These grants will assist local anti-gang efforts, particularly those implementing strategies that have been proven to be effective."

The grants that were awarded on Dec. 17 were the fourth round of such grants under CalGRIP as part of the former Governor's efforts to fight gang violence at a localized level. The awardees are responsible for defining the problems and solutions to their own gang violence issues in their cities. Earlier this year, the former Governor announced more than $9.2 million in the third round of competitive grants awarded to 24 cities throughout California to help combat and prevent gang violence in these communities. The former Governor also joined federal, state and local law enforcement officials in Salinas earlier this year, where they announced the arrests of more than 30 gang members as part of a state, federal and local coordinated investigation into gang activity in the area.

As part of the CalGRIP initiative, the former Governor announced more than $7.5 million in grants awarded throughout the state to help at-risk youth expand their education, job training and employment opportunities. Additionally, the former Governor announced $3 million in federal stimulus money for the Bridges to Success program last March, which is designed to open career paths for youths most likely to drop out of school. The goal of the program is to help link at-risk youths with real-world jobs that offer a taste of the career opportunities available to them if they complete their education. 

Below is the list of awardees that will receive a combined total of over $9.2 million in competitive grants:

NORTHERN COUNTIES $502,079

Shasta County

Redding                      $186,981

Sonoma County

Santa Rosa                  $315,098

BAY AREA $1,107,927       

Alameda County

Hayward                     $369,309

Oakland                      $369,309

Contra Costa

Richmond                   $369,309

CENTRAL COAST $1,846,466

Monterey County

Gonzales                     $369,309

Salinas                         $369,230

Santa Cruz County

Watsonville                 $369,309       

San Benito County

Hollister                      $369,309

Santa Barbara County

Santa Barbara             $369,309

CENTRAL VALLEY $1,068,093

Sacramento County

Sacramento                 $369,309

Fresno County                       

Fresno                         $369,309

Kern County

Bakersfield                  $329,475

LOS ANGELES COUNTY $2,107,927

Los Angeles                $1,000,000

Hawthorne                  $369,309

Long Beach                 $369,309

Pasadena                     $369,309

SOUTHERN COUNTIES $2,582,508

Orange County

Fullerton                      $369,309

Santa Ana                   $369,309

San Bernardino County

San Bernardino           $366,654

San Diego County

Chula Vista                 $369,309

Oceanside                   $369,309

San Diego                   $369,309

Ventura County

Oxnard                                    $369,309

TOTAL          $9.215 MILLION

On December 28, 2010, former Cal EMA Sec. Matthew Bettenhausen joined local state and federal officials at an event for the Women's Center of San Joaquin County to highlight its achievements in assisting victims of sexual assault for the past 35 years.

The Women's Center of San Joaquin County was one of the first 20 rape crisis centers to receive state funding in 1979 and has received Rape Crisis Program funding continuously since that time. The funding originally came from the Office of Crime Justice Program (OCJP), then the Office of Emergency Services and finally now Cal EMA.

"I applaud the remarkable achievements of the Women's Center of San Joaquin County over the past 35 years," former Sec. Bettenhausen said. "The 24 hour a day help that is provided is invaluable to victims, and Cal EMA is proud to play a role in helping the Women's Center help people in very difficult circumstances."

Since 1976, the Women's Center of San Joaquin County has been working as the sole certified provider of services for victims of sexual assault in that county. The Center stands out as a one of 84 Rape Crisis Centers in California that work to assist sexual assault victims in dealing with emotional trauma. The Center also provides victims with assistance as they progress through the criminal justice system and raise community awareness on sexual assault issues.

Tiles created by assault victims and other supporters of the Women's Center.

"Cal EMA will continue to provide the resources at our disposal to help the Women's Center of San Joaquin County in its vital role in this community," former Sec. Bettenhausen said. "These facilities and their staff do a phenomenal job, not only helping people in their time of need but also educating the community to the signs of domestic violence and sexual assault and helping to stop the scourge before it happens."

The Center responded to 1,242 crisis calls last year alone. The Center has advocated and counseled 1,883 sexual assault survivors and their family members.

Representatives from The Center as well as former Cal EMA Sec. Matthew Bettenhausen, Mayor Ann Johnson, City of Stockton, Joelle Gomez, Executive Director, Women's Center of San Joaquin County, Carlos Villapudua, Chairman, District 1, San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors, James Willett, San Joaquin County District Attorney, and other Local, State, and Federal officials were on hand after the press conference to answer questions and discuss future efforts in California's fight against sexual assault. For more information about all of Cal EMA's programs, please visit www.calema.ca.gov.