Heavy rain flooded the intersection of Sorrento Valley and Carmel Mountain roads forcing some businesses to shut down early because customers and clients couldn’t reach them.
There is simply insufficient drainage, but it’s the solution business owners on that corner say is the complicated part.
The water is gone now but you can see the residual damage left behind. The Corner House Café owner tells NBC 7 that potholes at the intersection were filled two weeks ago.
Storms in San Diego
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They look like they’d been here for years, but as bad as they seem, they're the lesser of problems for many businesses.
“It’s impacting us pretty much every time it rains. Its flooded. We lose clients. They can’t come in. Pretty frustrating,” Hill said.
Corner House Café owner Kiu Pour opened last Saturday morning but finished early when the streets closed.
“Every time it rains more than 20 to 25 minutes at a time, basically the whole area gets flooded,“ Pour said.
In times of drought, a normal rain will close the corner, Pour said. He has video and photographs of every storm that forced him to close his café dating back more than a decade. Pour said he once had a foot of water in his restaurant.
“It has to get fixed. If you look at this street, look at the asphalt. What’s going on. It's sad man. It looks like you’re going through Tijuana,” Pour said.
Rehab United is further up the hill but no less affected when it comes to losing business.
“If you close our business down, this particular clinic down for even a half day, call that 75 clients, you’re talking $10,000 at least, plus we’re paying employees,” Hill said.
Hill also captures a lot of video and pictures of the flooding and sends them to the city through the Get it Done app, but so far has had no luck speaking to anyone over the phone.
“The city has to think about it. We’re paying property taxes on this building. I would like the city to do something about it. It’s time. It’s been years and years,” Hill said.
Pour threatened to sue the city, and even collected 1,000 signatures from customers who have complained in hopes their voices would move toward a solution, he said.
“They make it so complicated, the way they tell you. It’s so complicated,“ Pour said.
A city spokesperson told NBC 7 it will take a day or two to craft a response to our questions. This is a long-time complaint and a fairly-complicated issue they’ve been working on for some time.
The pwner of Corner House Café says he’s meeting with the city later this week. He was told there is a solution in the works and that it’s part of a bigger project to begin in 2024.
Nearby business owners also told NBC 7 that the city used to pump out the flood water from the intersection but it hasn’t been done in the last six months.
