Sacramento's Levees (Fresno, Oakland, Bakersfield: insurance, home, neighborhoods)

[Onelunafae]

We've been doing a lot of research into moving to California from Ohio and were thinking about the Sacramento area. This is, until I discovered that Sacramento is considered to have the worst levees in the country. Is that true? Flood insurance must be unbelievably high there. I may have to start looking into another area within California.

[Sacoftomatoes]

Why are you looking at California? Job relocation?

[Onelunafae]

We've basically seen everything on the eastern 3rd of the US and want to live the 2nd half of our lives on the west coast. We like to be outdoors and California holds a lot of what we want to explore. We aren't getting any younger and ya' only live once. I'm second guessing myself now though. I may do some more digging and comparing of states on the west/western coast. We aren't planning on moving for more than a year and haven't 100% decided. My best friends husband is originally from the Sacramento area and they are considering moving back so that's why we started looking at Sacramento.

[CeJeH]

As long as you move into the suburbs northeast of the city you will be fine. If you're living in Natomas or the Pocket or something you're probably ****ed when the next huge storm hits (which is due overdue).

[EclecticEars]

Originally Posted by Onelunafae

We've basically seen everything on the eastern 3rd of the US and want to live the 2nd half of our lives on the west coast. We like to be outdoors and California holds a lot of what we want to explore. We aren't getting any younger and ya' only live once. I'm second guessing myself now though. I may do some more digging and comparing of states on the west/western coast. We aren't planning on moving for more than a year and haven't 100% decided. My best friends husband is originally from the Sacramento area and they are considering moving back so that's why we started looking at Sacramento.

Sacramento would be, I would argue, the easiest transition to urban California from the Midwest. Sacramento can in many respects be found in Columbus or Indianapolis, fellow state capitals, in terms of just having regular people and not being a particularly dynamic city.

However, Sacramento is definitely Californian. Sure, you're "two or three hours from everything," but the Old Town/Downtown/Midtown has a lot going on and there are many who have been transplanted from other parts of California and the West Coast to work in the public sector. Davis is a major university town, home to one of the campuses of the world-renowned UC system, and it is one of the most bike-friendly cities in North America. Some of the far flung exurbs are little more than nice foothill towns, so you be easily commutable to Sacramento and take hikes and camping trips all over the mountains during the weekends. Lodi is basically the southern tip of Metro Sac and has a thriving wine industry.

Most importantly, Sacramento has the most of something that Californians love, love, love to herald: DIVERSITY. More languages might be spoken in SoCal and the Bay Area, but they only intermingle in certain neighborhoods such as Downtown L.A./Koreatown, S.F.'s far south side, a few areas in Oakland, and around all large universities, but Sacramento as a whole is a diverse city.

I live in the Bay Area now and while I like it here all in all, I do not intend to stay here for life, and WILL NOT if I can't find a decent mate as dating is very difficult here. I'm exploring SoCal away from L.A. as well as Sacramento for potential relocation destinations. Just know this: Many in Coastal California hold Sac in the same camp with those "God-forsaken Central Valley" cities such as Lodi, Visalia, Merced, Bakersfield and others which admittedly have their problems such as Fresno, Stockton, and Modesto. Whatever. If YOU like Sacramento, then by God live in Sacramento!

Oh yeah, the levees: I mean, can they really be any worse than New Orleans'?

[Sacoftomatoes]

Originally Posted by Onelunafae

We've basically seen everything on the eastern 3rd of the US and want to live the 2nd half of our lives on the west coast. We like to be outdoors and California holds a lot of what we want to explore. We aren't getting any younger and ya' only live once. I'm second guessing myself now though. I may do some more digging and comparing of states on the west/western coast. We aren't planning on moving for more than a year and haven't 100% decided. My best friends husband is originally from the Sacramento area and they are considering moving back so that's why we started looking at Sacramento.

Based on what you wrote, levees wouldn't be my first concern. Sacramento is central to a good portion of "northern" California and provides a good "base camp" from which to travel from.

[NewToCA]

Originally Posted by Onelunafae

We've been doing a lot of research into moving to California from Ohio and were thinking about the Sacramento area. This is, until I discovered that Sacramento is considered to have the worst levees in the country. Is that true? Flood insurance must be unbelievably high there. I may have to start looking into another area within California.

We moved out to Sacramento from Ohio in 2006, and though the levee issue is true it doesn't impact the vast majority of the metro area. Flood insurance is high in some areas, but most areas really don't need it. As a bonus, Sacramento isn't really subject to significant earthquake risk either.

[wburg]

Indeed--some parts of the city are high flood risk and flood insurance is required, but not in other places. In places where it isn't required it is pretty cheap, in places where it is required it's not particularly exorbitant. On the other hand, we don't really get the earthquakes of the coast, the hurricaines of the southeast, the snowstorms of the north, or the tornadoes of the midwest. Every region has their local disasters and risks--it has been decades since major flooding occurred in Sacramento and a lot of levee work has occurred since then. If such things worry you, keep a life raft handy!

[caligirlz]

It's my understanding that the flood maps were changed within the past 10 years. I don't recall the exact date, but my ex-roommate had copies of the maps before they were changed. I certainly took the information in mind when I was deciding where to live & buy a home. We used to joke about keeping a rubber raft on our balcony when I lived in East Sac. As it turned out, the only issue we had other than a few mild floods in the basement up to 3-5 inches in depth, was the electricity going out in our grid for a week during the big storms. Most people left our 10 story building, but we stayed...it was nuts.... So levees....Natomas was definately out. There's a couple of other neighborhoods that I really like that I eventually ruled out due to the levee issue, or in direct path of a dam break. I'm thrilled with my neighborhood, and I'm glad that I bought in Folsom.

[DMenscha]

Interesting maps from Sac city.

City of Sacramento Department of Utilities - Solid Waste - City/County Neighborhood Flood Depth Maps