In San Mateo County, streets in Daly City and Broadmoor were lined with car after car, dozens of them totaled, from a Christmas morning flash flood.
It was a Christmas morning nightmare on 89th Street in Daly City. The torrential rain and flooding were so powerful the water lifted parked cars off the street.
The flash flood started around 2:30 a.m. Thursday. Within minutes, storm drains flooded, and water rose several feet. As the water rose, some residents scrambled to move their cars.
“We just got back from midnight mass, so we were up kind of enjoying the Christmas eve, having a glass of wine, when we heard someone laying on the horn out here,” said Rico Delodovici, a resident.
He saw someone was trapped in their SUV and called 911. He said firefighters came to the man’s rescue in time.
“It was a very fast disaster, by the time people run out of here, their cars were destroyed,” said Luis, a resident.
It was the same story nearby on 88th Street, in Broadmoor, an unincorporated part of San Mateo County.
“This car doesn’t have power,” said Anupam Yogi Kanwar, a Broadmoor resident.
Some residents are frustrated that the county didn’t set up warning signage along the street, as they often do, to give people a heads up to move their cars.
“They usually heed the warnings that they post on both sides of the street, they failed to do so,” Luis said.
Meantime, a long-term solution is in the works. San Mateo County will break ground in June on revamping the Vista Grande canal, a $146 million project to replace Daly City’s aging drainage infrastructure and reduce the impacts of flooding.
A project three or more years down the road, according to County Supervisor David Canepa.
“This is a once in a lifetime. Hopefully. Hopefully we don’t see this again,” said Delodovici.
Emma Goss
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