San Diego officials issued evacuation warnings Wednesday to residents living in areas prone to flooding in the Chollas Creek watershed as another major storm barreled toward neighborhoods still saturated by floodwaters.
The warning is voluntary, Mayor Todd Gloria said of the notification, and is designed to encourage residents to prepare “if, or when,” an evacuation order becomes necessary with the heavy rain coming Thursday.
The message, sent via text message, went to residents in Southcrest, Mountain View, Encanto, San Ysidro, Sorrento Valley and Mission Valley, city officials said.
“Residents in these areas should consider gathering important documents and belongings and make sure you have a plan to move yourself and your family out of harm’s way should major flooding occur,” Gloria said in a statement. “If you are willing and able, we encourage residents in these low-lying, impacted areas to seek alternative accommodations.”
The city set up a shelter for evacuees at Municipal Gym in Balboa Park, and officials are working to arrange transportation for those who need help getting there. If evacuation orders are issued, police officers will make door-to-door notifications, officials said.
The declaration drew some criticism. Shane Harris, founder of the People’s Association of Justice Advocates, argued it was irresponsible for the city to warn people about evacuations but offer no broad-scale way to house them, such as a hotel voucher program.
County and city emergency crews have been in high gear since last Monday, when a torrential downpour sent floodwaters roaring through homes and businesses across the region. Since then, teams have been working around the clock to clear storm channels and culverts of debris, organize local assistance centers for those who lost homes and businesses, and apply for funding that will help communities recover.
Natalie Ford took a few hours off work to volunteer for a “Day of Service” at the Jackie Robinson Family YMCA, helping organize and distribute clothing, food, and cleaning supplies to flood victims.
(Nelvin C. Cepeda/The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Now, a new storm approaches. The National Weather Service said Wednesday that strong, gusty winds are expected to roll in early Thursday, followed by hours of rain. The city of San Diego could get 2 inches of precipitation, and the San Diego River is expected to reach flood stage around 6 p.m. Coronado, the San Diego community of Encanto, and National City have been identified as areas of concern, in addition to communities still soaked from Monday’s deluge.
The expected rain is about one inch less than Monday’s surprise storm, but the saturated ground may not be able to absorb it quickly.
“We only got about an inch of water in our house last week, so we were able to save most of our stuff, but God only knows if we can get that lucky twice,” said Izzie Pasqual, an Encanto resident who dropped by the Jackie Robinson Family YMCA in southeastern San Diego with her mother, Vanessa, Wednesday.
Volunteers there assembled care packages and filled sandbags. Residents dropped off donations of food, clothing, blankets and toiletries. And flood victims filtered in to pick up supplies. The YMCA was one of four locations across the county that held such “Day of Service” events — part of a countywide effort to help flood victims recover and prepare residents for Thursday’s weather.
Across the street from the Pasquals, neighbors lost everything in last week’s storm, which damaged more than 250 structures at last count.
“I’m terrified it’ll be our turn next,” Pasqual said. “We weren’t ready last week, but you best believe we’re doing everything in our power to be ready now.”
At the Sherman Heights Community Center, Dazuan Dieker, left, Jaime Rodriguez, right, from the San Diego Food Bank helped with a special food distribution for flood victims as well as local community members in need of food assistance.
(Nelvin C. Cepeda/The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Across the region, fire and police are getting staged. Extra swift-water rescue teams are positioned around town, and 211 — a nonprofit that connects people with community, health and disaster services — is being staffed with additional workers to handle an increase in calls.
Over the last few days, tens of thousands of sandbags have been filled and distributed. On Wednesday morning, a line of vehicles wrapped around a Spring Valley block waiting to get bags filled from San Miguel Fire District Station 16.
Thanks in part to the city of San Diego’s emergency declaration, city crews have cleared 4 miles of storm channels in the last five days, and critical areas of Chollas Creek and Cottonwood Creek will be cleared by Wednesday night.
Seeing the unclogged channels filled some residents with hope that this storm would be less destructive.
Lara Lockwood said Wednesday that she and her two sons had not returned to their Mountain View home that was destroyed when the drainage ditch behind their house overflowed last week. However, some of her neighbors have stuck around through the clean-up process and were taking some comfort in the work already done by the city ahead of Thursday’s storm.
“The main reason why it flooded is because the water had nowhere to go. The drainage ditch was completely blocked by trees, debris, bamboo and other small plants,” Lockwood said. “The city bulldozed through all that in two days, so I’m not as concerned as a lot of people.”
Despite being less concerned, the Mountain View neighborhood helped each other fill sandbags and put them around each others’ doors and garages this week.
“We’re a really strong, tight-knit street, and this has brought us even closer together,” she added.
Dan Cruz, spokesman for the county YMCA, said he was initially naive to the catastrophic damage the storm had caused in isolated pockets of the county last week.
But as the week went on and the YMCA began to hear from the community, Cruz said it was eye opening to see not only the severity of the damage but also the response from its members.
“I was truly inspired to see people going out in the community to help their friends and neighbors,” Cruz said. “It was a beautiful thing to see how everyone sprung into action.”
Although Cruz said the YMCA and its partners are holding their breath to see how the storm hits San Diegans Thursday, he hopes the community response will help residents be more prepared.
By noon, the YMCA location had run out of sandbags and had to direct people to one of the other nearby assistance centers.
Although Pablo Quinera was already living in a motel with his wife and three young children after his home in southeastern San Diego had been flooded last week, he took the day off work Wednesday to ensure it couldn’t be further damaged.
“We were able to save some stuff like furniture and things that were up higher, but we couldn’t afford a storage unit, so we put it all back in the house,” Quinera said.
Now Quinera hoped he could collect enough sandbags to ensure more water didn’t enter the home.
“It’s been really hard already,” Quinera said. “Hearing there would be more rain really was another blow, but I’m thankful there’s been places I could turn to for help this time.”
Staff writers Caleb Lunetta, David Garrick and Gary Robbins contributed to this report.
