San Diego flooding victim who sued city after 2018 storm plans more legal action

Many flood victims in San Diego County are blaming their hardships on city and county governments for failing to maintain storm drains.

One flood victim told NBC 7 he received damages in a settlement with the city from a storm in 2018.

How many more payouts could there be from this week's deluge?

Beta Street homeowners have spent most of the week bailing out.

"What's got me the most scared is it's going to rain again," homeowner Greg Montoya said.

He says his struggle with storm damage and flooding has been the better part of two decades.

"If you got 20 years of documentation, asking them to fix it, and they don't fix it, it's pretty frustrating," Montoya said.

He estimates flood waters from Monday's storm cost about $350,000 in damage.

"You can go in the house, and about three feet of water is in there," Montoya said. "The house was flooded. My garage was flooded."

Montoya and a few other residents of Beta Street settled with the city in November of 2023 after a three-year battle over the adequacy of storm drains. He says the drainage has clearly not improved.

A walk down Beta Street feels more like a walk through a war zone, homeowners say. In front of each of the homes are trash piles stacked shoulder-high. It's saturated debris from inside the houses. Homeowners keep their windows and doors open to improve air circulation.

How they’ll pay for the rebuild also weighs heavy on their minds.

“I don’t know where I am going to go. I'm kind of scared about it, too — scared of being homeless,“ resident Brandon Torres said.

An email from city of San Diego spokesperson Rachel Laing wrote, in part, “The city has received storm-related claims. As always, we will thoroughly investigate each claim received.”

Another email sent to NBC 7 from city spokesperson Arian Collins wrote, in part, "Any claim against the city must be made in writing and be completed in accordance with the California Government Code.”

Since 2019, Montoya says he posted 15 requests on the city’s “Get It Done” app to clean out the creek behind his house. NBC 7 has verified 10 of those still in the system.

NBC 7 found the street department cleaning out the creek on Friday afternoon. But better late than never won't prevent Montoya from filing another claim.

“It’s tough because they fight viciously, but I am determined“ Montoya said.

The city provides two websites for residents who wish to get information about filing a claim, which can be found here.