OCEANSIDE, Calif. — The city of Oceanside declared a local emergency this week in an effort to get more help from the state and federal government to recover from severe storm damage.

“That’s positive. We want to get this thing corrected you know. It’s just so inconvenient for so many people,” Richard Molina said.

Local residents like Molina and his wife Kathy applaud the move, which will help the city in asking for state and even federal dollars to help with repairs.

“It was all collapsed in and this has been interesting trying to get in and out of here. The traffic, we have to allow a whole lot more time,” Kathy Molina said.

The Molinas live near a hillside slope failure on Sky Haven Lane which caused damage to the mobile home park below and access to the street has now been cut off for the foreseeable future.

Heavy rain caused flooding, potholes and sinkholes throughout the city. The most notable sinkhole problem is on State Route 78, where work has been ongoing for more than a week. Those repairs are estimated at almost $20 million, but will be covered by Caltrans.

Another large storm-related issue was a sewage spill at Oceanside’s La Salina Wastewater Treatment Plant that resulted in the closure of Buccaneer Beach.

The city says the list of problems, and now ongoing repairs, are estimated at well over $1 million.

President Joe Biden has already authorized federal assistance for California’s storm response, but now Oceanside plans to ask the state for help locally.