It is easy to imagine a flood as one dramatic event: rain pours down,
a river overflows and water rushes into streets and homes. But flood danger typically begins quietly, long before the rains. It can start with high water seeping under or through a levee or moving through a burrow in a levee created by ground squirrels or other rodents. 

Therein lies the impetus for the San Joaquin Area Flood Control Agency’s (SJAFCA) partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on its Lower San Joaquin River Project, a nearly $2 billion flood-protection effort to substantially reduce flood risk in north and central Stockton. Other project partners include the CA Central Valley Flood Protection Board and the CA Department of Water Resources. After a 2025 groundbreaking, the long-term project is expected to continue through 2045 and ultimately improve approximately 24 miles of levees that protect the region. SJAFCA is a joint powers authority composed of the cities of Stockton, Lathrop, Manteca and San Joaquin County. The agency is headed by a board of directors made up of elected leaders from each of the member agencies and one public member, and by its Executive Director Darren Suen. Its mission is simple, even if the task is not: reduce and manage the region’s flood risk.

With all the investment in flood protection in the Sacramento region over the last 20 years, San Joaquin County takes its place as one of the country’s most flood-vulnerable metropolitan areas. According to the state’s climate change analysts, San Joaquin River flows are expected to increase by as much as three times by 2070. 

SJAFCA is also working on a plan for approximately $500 million in improvements to the levees that protect Weston Ranch in south Stockton and portions of Lathrop and Manteca. The project includes an extension of a dryland levee in Manteca to protect an area with a history of flooding. The agency also recently completed a $95 million project to construct a flood gate across Atherton Cove to protect more than 8,000 properties in the Smith Canal Tract from high water and tidal events in the Delta.