Employees at Parkway Plaza Mall in San Diego’s East County had a big mess on their hands Wednesday after parts of the mall flooded during strong, El Niño-driven storms.
Nearly a dozen stores inside the mall – located at 415 Parkway Plaza in El Cajon – were impacted by the flooding. Clean-up crews told NBC 7 a drain outside the mall just couldn’t handle the heavy rainfall Tuesday night and water was not able to drain out quickly enough from some man holes behind several stores and backrooms near the mall’s food court area.
Stores impacted by the flooding include Claire’s, Justice and Victoria’s Secret, among others.
On Tuesday night, Parkway Plaza posted the following message to its Facebook page as it prepared to close the mall early:
"The afternoon downpour in our area has caused rapid rises to the rivers and flash flooding of streets and tributaries. This has resulted in a backup of the storm drains that have affected our center and resulted in flooding in several areas of the mall. At this time we have determined it is in everyone’s best interest to close the center. We will open at 10:00 am Wednesday."
By 10 a.m. Wednesday, the company S&J Builders & Restoration was on site cleaning up the shops and impacted portions of the mall. The floors were being dried out with high-powered blowers.
The mall, and stores, remained open for business. No one was injured in the floods at the mall.
Heavy rainfall is expected to hit San Diego again Wednesday afternoon and evening.
