Three days after devastating floods and record-breaking rain that caught thousands of San Diegans off guard, the city held a news conference Thursday to address the most pressing questions: how did this happen, and what’s being done to prevent it from happening again?
Kris McFadden, the deputy chief operating officer with the city of San Diego, provided more details on the work stormwater crews did ahead of Monday’s unprecedented rain and what’s happening now.
"You have to look at bird's eye view of the entire area,” McFadden said.
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As he put it, even the most sophisticated infrastructure would’ve been overwhelmed by the amount of rain that came down in such a short time Monday.
“We have to do everything we can do today,” McFadden said.
He said Monday’s storm could be classified as a thousand-year storm, at least. On Monday, many residents along Chollas Creek in Southeastern San Diego were some of the hardest hit. McFadden says in Fiscal Year-24, stormwater crews have removed more than seven tons of debris from Chollas Creek. Now, even more is still being cleared out.
With emergency declarations from the county, city and state in place, McFadden says permitting provisions allow work to be done now and fast ahead of next week’s rains.
“We’re able to enact emergency permitting provisions, which we were not able to do so otherwise,” McFadden said.
He added that allows dredging to happen in Chollas Creek, which emergency contractors are also being brought in for. He said maintenance on Beta Street and dredging will start this week.
“We actually have to get after the fact permits,” McFadden said. “We have to do all the mitigation. We have to do all regulatory things that are after the fact, fortunately, they’re willing to work with us proactively but what that entails is going in, starting in Beta Street, putting in every equipment and removing any vegetation that we can, anything that got washed in the storm drain channel."
When it comes to prioritizing channels that are addressed, McFadden said the city looks at risk management to assess which channels need maintenance, but storm drain cleanings do happen frequently.
In the news conference, FEMA Firm Inundation Limits graphics were provided, detailing 100-year floodplains, which are regulated, and 500-year floodplains, which are not regulated. Chollas Creek is also a regulated floodway. As McFadden puts it, in the 100-year floodplain, the area would flood when there is a 100-year storm. He says structures in this area would be the most vulnerable.
In 2022, the city of San Diego unanimously approved a low-interest federal loan that would fund $733 million in stormwater projects. McFadden says many of those millions would go to Chollas Creek.
McFadden emphasized that capital improvement projects are going to make a difference by focusing on an engineering solution.
Meantime, residents are gearing up for next week's rains. McFadden says crews are ready.
"Emergency center operations is active. We have emergency command localized just to this area – this is police, fire, lifeguards, everyone, so we’re ready and we’ll be. For instance, if we need to alert the neighbors this is going to be a problem, we have those boots on the ground now," McFadden said.
