TEMECULA —— Erosion from the recent rains illustrate the potential for Murrieta Creek to quickly transform from quiet stream to raging river, underscoring the need for a $100 million project that aims to tame it, local officials say.

And with the creek's temper able to flare up in a stormy moment, Temecula and Murrieta officials say, it is frustrating that more than four years after Congress authorized the project, federal dollars are still barely trickling in.

Federal money has been flowing so slowly in the direction of Southwest County that a crucial phase of construction in Old Town Temecula has been delayed at least a year, Dusty Williams, general manager and chief engineer for Riverside County Flood Control and Water Conservation District, said last week. And the projected 2010 completion date for the entire venture is in jeopardy.

The project entails digging the stream channel deeper and wider in places, shoring up banks in Old Town with decorative concrete, building a basin for holding and slowly releasing excess storm runoff, putting in a sports park and lining the creek sides with a bicycle-pedestrian path on one and a horse trail on the other. Other features include new bridges along Main Street in Temecula, and Ivy and Guava streets in Murrieta, and a streamside replanting in native grasses, bushes and trees.

The first phase, completed about a year ago, entailed digging the channel deeper at the channel's lower end, which is near Interstate 15 and Highway 79 South.

The slow trickle coming out of the federal faucet has serious implications for future phases because, although the cities and Riverside County have agreed to put up money, close to two-thirds of the cost was to be borne by the federal government. Little progress can be made until Congress loosens its appropriations spigot.

"It (the federal funding) has always been less than expected ever since we started this project," said Al Vollbrecht, Murrieta administrative services manager. "We've been in the construction phase for three years now and the appropriation for this year was just $1.5 million. At that rate, the project would probably never get done."

Vollbrecht said he is not worried, at least at this point, that the series of flood-control measures along a 7-mile stretch through Murrieta and Temecula won't be built. But he said delays could drag on so long that the communities are laid waste by another damaging flood like the one that struck 12 years ago today, causing $10 million in damage.

Eroding banks

Already, the storms that dumped a half a foot of rain on Southwest County last week have eaten away at Murrieta Creek's sides in Old Town Temecula, prompting city officials to send crews out Friday to shore up banks and newly exposed supports for Main Street Bridge.

"At this point, we are getting a little scared about the financing," said Murrieta City Councilman Warnie Enochs, who campaigned on flood control when he first ran for office in 1995. He's been working to protect Murrieta Creek ever since.

The federal financing to date has been totally inadequate, Enochs said.

"It's like a Band-Aid on a gash when we need stitches," he said.

Temecula officials also are growing concerned.

"It is disturbing because the cities of Murrieta and Temecula, and the flood-control district, have all had to make financial commitments," said Temecula Public Works Director Bill Hughes. "We've all kept our promises. And now we have the federal money being held back."

Just last Tuesday, the Riverside County Board of Supervisors voted to ratify a three-way pact between the county flood control district and cities for sharing $41 million in anticipated local costs. The county promised to foot 50 percent of that amount, and Temecula and Murrieta each pledged 25 percent.

While the current year's federal appropriation of $1.5 million is frustrating, particularly when local officials requested $5 million, it could have been worse, Williams said. After the House of Representatives approved $3 million for Murrieta Creek, the Senate slashed that to zero, he said. It was only because of a conference-panel compromise that the project received anything at all.

"I see the glass half full because we're still getting money," Williams said.

Williams said it often takes as long as two decades to complete a typical federal flood-control project. "If you look at it against that timeframe, we're doing pretty good," he said.

Congressional support

A prominent Riverside County member of Congress hasn't forgotten Murrieta Creek.

Kimberly Pencille, spokeswoman for Rep. Mary Bono, R-Palm Springs, whose district takes in most of Murrieta, said the congresswoman is well aware of the value of the project.

Pencille said the appropriations decision must be viewed against the backdrop of a soaring federal deficit and mounting costs for the war in Iraq.

"That's a reality of the budget constraints and limitations that we have been working under here in Congress," she said.

Pencille said the president is due to release in early February his budget for the next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.

Constraints aside, the timing of that budget looks good for Southwest County.

For one, a Republican congressman from the Inland Empire —— Rep. Jerry Lewis of Redlands —— has just ascended to the chairmanship of the House Appropriations Committee. It can't hurt to have a regional player in one of the most powerful posts in Washington, local officials say.

Then there are the storms.

"The rains have been a practical reminder of the importance of this project," Vollbrecht said. "With the recent dry winters, nobody thought much about it. But now it's on everyone's minds again."

In many residents' minds, the rain brought to the surface memories of the disastrous flood of Jan. 16, 1993. That event, which officials use as a benchmark for the type flood they want to avoid, pounded businesses in Old Town Temecula and on Temecula's west side, as well as homes in Old Town Murrieta.

Enochs recalled the 14 inches of water that inundated his home and electrical-contracting shop. Temecula Councilman Chuck Washington, an airline pilot who lived in Murrieta then, recalled picking up his daughter from a gymnastics event being held in a flooded Temecula business-park building.

"It was horrible," Washington said.

Memories of '93

Ron Walton, owner of Texas Lil's in Old Town Temecula, said it was 4 feet deep in his steak-and-ribs restaurant, and 13 patrons sat on the bar to avoid being soaked by rapidly rising water. At one point, he and son Mike, who was 12 then, made their way across Old Town Front Street from a parking lot to the restaurant even though they were half submerged.

"We waded across water that was waist high," Walton said. "When I look back on it, I realize that was pretty stupid. If we had lost our footing, we would have been swept down to Camp Pendleton."

His restaurant sustained $125,000 in damage. All told, the flood caused $10 million in damages in Murrieta, Temecula and Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base. Murrieta Creek meets Temecula Creek south of Temecula, where it becomes the Santa Margarita River and flows across the base into the Pacific.

As bad as the 1993 flood was, Walton said he isn't worried about a repeat. And the way Murrieta Creek held up last week only reinforced that confidence.

"I've never seen it rain as hard as it did this past week," he said.

Mike Thesing, owner of nearby Rosa's Cantina, said he, too, believes the channel is better prepared.

"In the midst of this storm, I went down and looked at that creek and the water was flowing fine," Thesing said, saying the level never rose higher than nine feet below the top of the bank.

Hughes, Temecula's public works director, said the level stayed reasonably low because water roared downstream faster than in the past. The sharper drop to the channel's lower end —— as a result of first-phase digging —— served to accelerate flow and keep the creek within its channel.

On the other hand, the faster flow accelerated bank erosion and ate away at the ground around Main Street Bridge supports, triggering emergency work in the stream bed by heavy equipment operators. Hughes said significant bank damage will occur in every major storm until the flood-control project, which is designed to address that problem, is completed.

"It (the flood threat) hasn't been solved," Hughes said. "We just haven't seen the type of storms that would create a problem like the one that occurred in 1993."

As well, though last week's storms dumped 6 inches of rain, it fell over several days. And officials said the creek's peak flow was about what occurs every 25 years, not as big as the giant flood of 1993.

"There is still a potential for disaster," Enochs said. "And it is not going to go away."

Contact staff writer Dave Downey at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2616, or ddowney@californian.com.