Robert Duckstad has spent much of his life studying the sky.
The 65-year-old stood near a tent by the San Diego River last week, a water stain on his sweats showing where he’d once trudged through water. Duckstad told a reporter he’d spent years in the U.S. Navy as a meteorologist.
“I’ve got my pulse on the weather, but it really rained hard,” he said about the historic and potentially deadly storm that had hit a few days prior. “I saw it coming up, and within a few minutes it was time to leave.”
It’s not clear if he knows another deluge may be coming.
City officials and local organizations are trying to warn the hundreds of people estimated to live along waterways about the heavy rains expected Thursday, while many shelters work to head off more flooding just days after two locations had to be evacuated.
The city “is taking extra precaution to protect residents at Safe Sleeping sites and shelters” and efforts were underway to “fortify” some areas, spokesperson Matt Hoffman wrote in an email.
It’s uncertain whether San Diego’s first designated camping area, at 20th and B streets, will be cleared again. The safe sleeping site has been evacuated twice in the last five months because of rain.
Hoffman added that “City-contracted outreach teams have been in the riverbed alerting people of coming rain and offering available resources.”
The San Diego River Park Foundation is similarly sending in groups and has asked for donations to help get the word out. The nonprofit tallied about 280 homeless people by waterways during last week’s point-in-time count.
Communication can be difficult. Many people recently interviewed in encampments didn’t have working phones, including Duckstad, the Navy veteran.
Yet water comes fast. During just a few hours last Monday, the National Weather Service estimated that one part of the San Diego River rose nearly 10 feet. Projections for Thursday are just as high.
A decision will likely be made soon about whether to activate the city’s Inclement Weather Shelter Program, which temporarily opens up several spots.
That can include Living Water Church of the Nazarene downtown. During the Jan. 22 storm, Pastor Chris Nafis was working on the first floor when he suddenly realized his feet were wet: Water was pouring through the front.
He and several volunteers, including some who live on the street, used brooms to fight the flow while stuffing diapers and bags of donated clothes under the door, he recalled.
This week, he’s looking for sand bags.
The same goes for Father Joe’s Villages, which took in water at several sites.
An elevator remains down at the Bishop Maher Center, which has dozens of beds for women off Imperial Avenue, so meals are being delivered to those who can’t use the stairs, according to spokesperson Byron Kimball. Residents have been given the option of moving to the nearby Joan Kroc Center.
That facility is also hosting the organization’s new employment and education program as the Saint Teresa of Calcutta Villa “experienced heavy flooding,” Kimball wrote in an email. The Kroc, Paul Mirabile and Village Health centers only experienced “minor damage.”
The hardest hit facility was undoubtedly the Alpha Project bridge shelter by 16th Street and Newton Avenue — the tent remains empty and its residents are still in a Balboa Park gym — but the nonprofit took additional losses.
Pumps are still at Point Loma’s Rosecrans Shelter after flooding, according to President and CEO Bob McElroy. He said dozens of staffers also had to leave waterlogged offices in Normal Heights, though he primarily attributed that to a problem with a contractor.
Furthermore, the vehicle toll had risen to 4 lost vans and 9 cars belonging to staffers. McElroy praised both residents and employees for their ongoing work.
“They just keep going,” he said.
North County was not as affected.
Greg Anglea, CEO of Interfaith Community Services, said their facilities did not take in water last week and flooding wasn’t anticipated Thursday.
The bigger problem was a lack of space for people still on the street, he said. All of Interfaith’s buildings were full, including the nonprofit’s new family shelter in Escondido.
“We need more shelter beds,” Anglea said.
