January 2024 flood victims express concerns leading up to heaviest rainfall of season

Yahoo

11-02-2025

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5KUSI) — San Diegans are gearing up for the heaviest rainfall of the season starting on Wednesday, and victims of the January 2024 floods expressed concerns about the clogged creek behind their homes, which channeled the stormwaters into their neighborhood.
Those rushing water just one year ago destroyed the Southcrest community.
'There's where the water was,' said Greg Montoya, showing the water line about three feet high in his home.
A year later, Montoya's home is still damaged.
'There's still work to be done,' he said, mentioning he has plans to restore the siding and cracks in his foundation.
Walking behind his home to Chollas Creek brings back memories of the devastation's source.
'They just do not put money in this area, it's not a tourist attraction,' Montoya claimed.
With the heaviest rainfall of the season on the way this week, Montoya's feeling déjà vu.
'If it's a big storm, all this trash is going to go, look at this trash, all of it is going to go down to the main street bridge,' he said.
So, he's preparing by double checking his water pumps in case he needs to redirect flood waters.
If the floodwaters back up into the street, he says he could go through a third flood.
The entire neighborhood felt the damage, leaving Joshua Roche and his wife concerned about the flood watch going into effect on Thursday.
'She's wanting to park our cars in different locations, so she's definitely fearful of what's to come,' Roche said.
The county of San Diego and Cal Fire are offering free sandbags to residents, adding in a statement '[The Department of Public Work's] staff and equipment are prepared to respond to the weather, including providing 24-hour coverage as-needed throughout the day and overnight.'
'We've tried sandbags before, but that's so minor compared to what happened last January,' Roche said.
The city of San Diego could see up to two inches of rain by the time this storm ends on Friday.
In a statement, the city of San Diego says, 'Ahead of the storm, the city's stormwater department is cleaning storm drains and inlets with a history of debris buildup and street sweeping to reduce trash and pollutants from entering our waterways.'
'I would just like to see that creek cleaned out, so that way the water can go where it's supposed to go,' Roche said.
Montoya filed six 'Get it Done' reports to remove debris in the creek since last year's floods.
He filed three of those in 2025 with one report still in progress, which he hopes to see closed this week, so he doesn't watch history repeat itself.
'It looks like they're in the process of removing stuff, but there is still a lot of debris left,' he said.
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