The creek that runs under City Hall

Hayward has a creek most people have never seen. Part of it runs under City Hall.

Sulphur Creek comes down from the hills toward the Bay, and for years it was trouble. In the county flood district’s words, “Hayward was frequently flooded by storm waters from Sulphur Creek.”

The fix came in two steps. In the 1920s much of the creek went into culverts. Then in 1962 the County rerouted its upper part to join San Lorenzo Creek at 2nd Street, to cut the flood risk downtown.

What’s left still does its job. The drainage “runs through culverts under Hayward City Hall” and drains the airport on its way to the Bay, crossing the flatlands as an open channel. Near the shore, its levee was breached in the late 1990s to let the tide back into Oro Loma Marsh, now wide meadows of pickleweed and a home for the endangered salt marsh harvest mouse.

The creek’s name lives on up in the Hayward hills, too, at the Sulphur Creek Nature Center. It started in the 1960s with a lost rabbit someone named Happy. The community made a home for him, an animal sanctuary grew from it, and in 1970 the park district took over an old wellness retreat whose wells “drew sulphur water from the springs.” Today it’s a wildlife hospital and nature center.

So the water that once flooded downtown is still down there, just out of sight. In a storm, plenty of the water heading for the drains starts on our roofs. The City’s own advice: make sure downspouts carry water away from the foundation, and “clear gutters before and during the rainy season.” Sometimes these important things can be out of sight. If you haven’t cleared your home’s roof, gutters and downspouts in a while, it might be a good time to give us a call. Sunshine Gutters and Roofing – Let us shine on your rainy day.