County government leaders late Monday proclaimed a local emergency after a powerful storm brought record rain to the region, causing extensive flooding and damage to streets, homes and businesses. The city of San Diego made a similar proclamation earlier in the day.
The local proclamation signals state and federal officials that the county is anticipating significant impacts to public and private property from the storm.
“County residents are recovering from serious impacts from this storm. Some areas of the County received several inches of rain in a short period of time, flooding streets, damaging homes, and businesses,” Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Nora Vargas said in a statement issued late Monday.
She suggested residents register for AlertSanDiego.org and download the SD Emergency mobile app to receive emergency notifications, updates, and preparedness information.
The historic storm on Monday unleashed explosive rain on San Diego County, flooding neighborhoods from the South Bay to Oceanside and turning roads into rivers. Several school districts canceled classes as classrooms flooded. Several local freeways were shut down for hours because storm water left them impassable.
County officials said the County’s Emergency Operations Center will continue to monitor conditions and coordinate among county departments, with cities, non-governmental organizations and first responders.
Workers are expected to begin taking damage assessments Tuesday morning. County officials directed residents and business owners who suffered losses due to the storm to provide information to its damage-tracking form at crisistrack.juvare.com/public/sandiegoCA/request.html.
The site notes the information will be used to determine if the county should request state or federal assistance — and is no guarantee that residents or business owners will be eligible or will receive disaster relief.
“This is also not a substitution for submitting a claim with your insurance,” the document states. “Any information provided in this form is not confidential and may be subject to disclosure as a public record.”
On Monday evening, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria proclaimed a local emergency in the city as a first step toward receiving federal and state money to help rebuild damaged infrastructure and provide services.
Preliminary figures showed San Diego International Airport received 2.70 inches of rain between midnight and 4 p.m. on Monday, a record for a January day in San Diego. It was also the fifth wettest day ever recorded in the city.
