San Diego Declares Emergency Amid Record January Flooding
It has been described as the wettest January day on record in San Diego, according to the National Weather Service.
The West Coast faced the onslaught of the third Pacific storm since Friday, as the first one avoided the region and the second brought only a limited amount of relatively warm rain. A city that initially escaped the impact found itself facing repercussions from the forecasted stronger third storm.
Tijuana and other parts of northern Baja California were hit hard. At least eight migrants were rescued by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents and San Diego Fire Department rescuers when they were endangered by the floodwaters of the Tijuana River Valley on the U.S. side.
Residents in the Southcrest neighborhood just southeast of downtown were rescued by firefighters as standing water quickly surrounded their apartment complex, according to authorities, no injuries were reported.
Flooding also hit Navy Base, San Diego, located south of downtown, in the late morning due to a dense precipitation cell passing over the area. This led to the closure of several streets and Interstate 15, the route to Las Vegas, as they were submerged in water.
Navy officials said personnel on base should shelter in place as they tried to move incoming and outgoing traffic to areas of the base that weren't temporarily united with adjacent San Diego Bay.
Mayor Todd Gloria declared a state of emergency "due to extreme rainfall and flash flooding," he said. He further urged residents and visitors to stay off roads Monday. Schools in adjacent La Mesa and Spring Valley declared classrooms would be closed Tuesday.
The city grappled with flooding in the usual places, including Mission Valley, where multiple roads were impassable, and Ocean Beach, where beachgoers didn’t necessarily have to reach the ocean to go for a swim.
At the north end of San Diego County, State Route 78 was shuttered east of the city of Oceanside after lanes were buried in floodwaters. Eastbound lanes remained closed Monday night, according to the California Transportation Department.
