Nearly two years after being flooded in January 2024 it happened again last week to businesses along Mission Gorge Road in Mission Valley.
A wave of water overflowing from a neighboring creek early on Jan. 1 swept through the strip mall on Mission Gorge Road, just north of Interstate 8.
One employee shot a video not long after that wave swept through. It shows water gushing into Native Poppy from a neighboring business.
It was a bad dream coming to life all over again for co-owner, Meg Blancato.
“It was very overwhelming. It was early in the morning on New Year’s Day,” she said.
Having been through this before, Blancato and her team knew that the sooner someone got to the business to open doors and let the water flow out, the better.
“We actually have a spreadsheet that is called the Disaster Recovery Spreadsheet where we have a step-by-step protocol of what to do and how to get this information to our community, how to ask for support and how to communicate to the team,” Blancato said.
The better preparation this time meant less loss than two years ago.
“We have a company rule. If you're not willing to part with it, don’t leave it below the 4-foot line,” Blancato explained.
This time, getting the water out as quickly as possible meant the businesses’ two delivery vans survived. In 2024, two vans were ruined after sitting in feet of water for hours on end.
This Mission Valley branch of Native Poppy is closed until things are cleaned up.
Now, Blancato and her business partner, Natalie Gill, are looking to the future. She said they hope to reopen by Valentine’s Day — at the latest.
But beyond that, Blancato said she and her team have had enough. They’re leaving their Mission Valley location and the flood plain it’s in behind. They hope to be in a new location by this summer. The company’s other locations in South Park and Solana Beach are open as usual.
