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Following extreme rainfall Citywide, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria declared a state of emergency while deploying emergency teams to areas where residents and property were hard-hit by severe flooding.
“We had an extraordinary rain event in our City and some communities have been tremendously impacted,” said Gloria adding, “We’re not accustomed to this. It’s probably the largest amount of rain we’ve ever had; maybe there’s just three days in our history when there’s been more.”
Noting flooding in the Southcrest and Mountain View neighborhoods left more than 100 homes that “will not be occupiable moving forward,” Gloria acknowledged there “is a lot of hurt in the community.” He implored the public to “take the opportunity in the coming days or weeks to help your fellow San Diegans. There are a lot of challenges and City crews out there are doing that (mopping up) work as we speak.”
The Peninsula was one of those areas inundated by heavy rains. “Ocean Beach experienced a lot of sustained flooding on street corners and along Abbott Street and the 5000 block of Newport, and on Voltaire and wherever the drains were partially plugged up,” said Denny Knox, executive director of Ocean Bean MainStreet Association, the community’s business improvement district.
“The storm on Monday was expected, but the amount of rainfall was so great that rivers started to form on some of the streets. We’ve had these types of storms in the past, and I’m always shocked about how deep the water can get.”
Added Knox: “I’m hoping that most of our businesses weathered this storm. We haven’t heard of a lot of damage, so hopefully everyone is trying to figure out how high to stack the sandbags to protect their shops and restaurants when future storms hit.”
“The flooding here really didn’t do too much out of the normal around Isthmus Court,” noted Greg Knight of Mission Beach. “Places like Luigi’s Pizza and Roberto’s Taco Shop on Mission Boulevard saw some flooding, but they get that way almost every rain.”
Added Knight: “The storm drains worked efficiently. As soon as the heavy rains stopped, the water started to recede. I don’t give many props to our local government, but they have seemed to fix the storm drains around here. Years past, the water would have sat for days.”
On Tuesday, Jan. 23, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in San Diego and Ventura counties to help them recover from Monday’s storm. His emergency proclamation included provisions for unemployment benefits for impacted residents. The declaration also allows for state-owned properties to be used as evacuation and staging sites.
The chilly winter storm that arrived in San Diego over the weekend delivered steady downpours along with widespread flooding that swamped roadways and neighborhoods regionwide. The National Weather Service said Monday, Jan. 22 was the fifth wettest day in San Diego since 1850.
On Monday, with rainfall rates approaching a half-inch per hour, the NWS issued a flash-flood warning for the western valleys and the ocean coastline of San Diego County. The top local three-day precipitation totals during the winter storm included 4.51 inches on Otay Mountain and 4.49 inches in Point Loma,
The San Diego Fire-Rescue Department swift water rescue team was busy during the weather crisis responding to multiple locations along the San Diego River, central parts of the City, low-lying areas near the coast, and the Tijuana River Valley. Hundreds of people were rescued from homes and flooded areas. The City also asked residents during the storm to stay off the roads if they didn’t need to travel.
In La Jolla, some areas were harder hit than others by the winter storm. Diane Kane in the Hillside Drive area noted that “runoff and erosion have constantly increased due to new construction, an increase of hardscape, and an inadequate stormwater system.”
Kane added: “There is no ‘system’ in La Jolla. Stormwater is expected to flow into streets and eventually make its way to canyons and into the ocean.”
Kane offered a solution. “New projects need to provide on-site detention ponds to collect additional runoff generated by increased hardscape,” she said.
Brenda Fake of the nonprofit Friends of Coast Walk, which maintains the trail area along the oceanfront in La Jolla, noted preventative measures taken paid off. “Over the last several years we’ve (Friends) been doing a lot of soil-erosion mitigation including putting in new decomposed granite that works to disburse water runoff so it doesn’t cut down into the trail,” Fake said. “And all the berms we’ve put in are all working helping to manage the trail: You can walk on it right after a rain now. We’re humbled by the community’s (fundraising) support because, without it, the Coast Walk Trail would have been hugely damaged.”