On Friday, residents and business owners in Mission Hills were cleaning up the mud and debris from the storm on New Year's Day.
The National Weather Service said more than 2 inches of rain fell in most of the county. That caused flooding in the usual areas around town but Mission Hills was the hardest hit.
“This is was very surprising to me,” said Stephen Alberts, who owns the Blue Barn Creative video and photography studio at the Arroyo Drive and Reynard Way.
He said he’s never seen flooding like this in the 15 years he’s been here.
“In the past, the water would always kind of just come to just before the door at the worst flooding of the season or the worst rainfall of the season," he said. "But (Thursday), you can see there's a line that's about three feet up the building. The water just went way past where it ever has gone.”
His studio is covered in mud, and some of his photography equipment is ruined. His neighbor, William Johnson, who lives in the apartment building behind the business, was in the process of moving out when the flood hit.
His entire apartment was flooded in minutes.
“It was coming through the walls over here," he said, pointing to his bedroom. "I was going to go run to my neighbor to see how she's doing. I come to the door. ... It's just coming in like a wave.”
Resident Beverly Glenn said the source of the flooding was at Maple Canyon, where water flowed down to Arroyo Drive and picked up gravel at the start of the hiking trail. That gravel traveled to the drains in front of Albert's business and plugged them up.
“(The water) jumped this curb here, went straight back," Glenn said. "You can see the mud going straight back.”
She said this area is prone to flooding, but she was surprised by the mud "because we’ve never seen this much mud down here at all.”
The city has been restoring Maple Canyon and replacing the old corrugated metal pipes with reinforced concrete ones. Glenn said it’s helped.
“I don’t think they could have predicted that,” Glenn said.
In a statement, city spokesperson Ramon Galindo said that before the storm, city workers inspected and cleaned flood-prone storm drains around the city. The city also placed no-parking signs along the street in low-lying areas.
"The flood-affected area of Mission Hills is in a low-lying region that receives runoff from the surrounding canyons, slopes and residential properties," he said in an email to KPBS. "The quantity and intensity of rain overwhelmed the stormwater system and transported large amounts of debris and sediment throughout the streets."
Meanwhile, in Chollas Creek, residents were worried when the creek overflowed its banks during the New Year's Day storm. Debris plugged storm drains, and neighbors there helped to clear them, allowing water to drain.
Javier Aguayo said that had the rain continued, it would have been a repeat of January 2024.
“We’re afraid. We get a lot of stress because the water runs over the channel, started to spread right there," he said. "It’s spread because (the city) didn’t do anything.”
Aguayo said the city hasn’t done enough to clear the creek to prevent flooding. The area was devastated by a once-in-a-thousand-year flood nearly two years ago. Even now, many residents are still in the process of rebuilding.
Before Thursday's storm, the city said it would be monitoring Chollas Creek, and after the wet weather subsides, would do any additional maintenance work needed.
In the meantime, in Mission Hills, the cleanup effort continues as another storm is headed this way. Johnson is staying at a hotel while his insurance company assesses the damage.
