Residents in Shelltown are drying out as best they can, but they are left with little assistance and piles of belongings spilling into the streets. NBC 7’s Dave Summers shares their story on Jan. 24, 2024.
"Everything, as you can see, is ruined," a choked-up Olga Ramirez said.
Ramirez's 79-year-old father has lived in his home in the Shelltown neighborhood of San Diego for half his life. On Wednesday, the family was moving most of his belongings out to the street. They were damaged by floodwaters that came waist-high during a powerful storm on Monday.
"It’s just a very difficult situation we are devastated," Ramirez said. "This is everything my dad has, he’s on a fixed income. It’s definitely tough."
The Ramirezes weren't the only ones on their block hit hard by the powerful storm, one of the worst San Diego County has seen in recorded history.
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At the corner of Cottonwood and Osborne streets, destroyed household items -- mattresses, furniture, clothes, shoes, keepsakes and photographs -- were gathered in large piles on the sidewalk as residents attempted to clear out the devastation to their homes.
When Luz Sanchez arrived on Monday to help her 75-year-old mother and 80-year-old father, three cars had water up to their windows and the water in the home was waist-level.
“For her to walk in through that door for the first time [Wednesday] it just broke my heart," Sanchez said. "Right when she walked in she just looked down and started crying. Fifty years of hard work."
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Across the street, resident Sandra Garcia lives with her husband, who uses an oxygen generator and spends much of his days at a hospital bed within the home. The bed was also destroyed by floodwater.
“I am retired two years. I have my insurance, my insurance no cover nothing for me," Garcia said.
Residents say the floodwater came from a nearby culvert that was blocked by a mass of debris. NBC 7 reached out to the city to their response to residents' concerns but has not yet heard back. A news conference was scheduled Thursday afternoon.
Meanwhile, residents were told to apply to FEMA for help. At the moment, their immediate needs are being met by generous volunteers handing out food and clothes. And, at night they prop each other up with the comradery of a shared hardship.
