It has been more than a year since the Jan. 22, 2024, flood devastated the Southcrest community, and now the city of San Diego is facing 53 lawsuits with more than 1,500 plaintiffs.
Former Beta Street resident Jessica Calix is one of those plaintiffs. She said she misses her neighbors and living in Southcrest.
“Just walking over here now, I saw one of my neighbors from next door from the flood," she said. "We're all such a tight community.”
Calix said she felt at home here and loved the diversity of the neighborhood, but she hasn’t been able to move back.
“I woke up that morning and by the time I went to bed everything was gone,” she said.
After the flood, her landlord raised the rents, and many homes and apartments here have not been rebuilt. She now lives in a travel trailer with her son.
Sixteen months after the flood devastated the neighborhood, there are some signs of recovery. Homes are being rebuilt, but trash and debris are still in some of the yards.
"No one is whole," Calix said. "We're all still recovering, overwhelmed with debt, and the infrastructure has not been repaired.”
She is now part of a lawsuit against the city, alleging it failed to maintain Chollas Creek by removing trash and debris, leading to the devastating flood.
“Because there needs to be accountability for this preventable disaster, the infrastructure that's been neglected for years needs to be finally taken care of," Calix said. "We need positive change in our communities.”
A San Diego Superior Court judge has combined all 53 lawsuits into a mass tort involving 1,552 plaintiffs, according to the plaintiff matrix filed with the court.
Calix said suing is the only way to get the community what it needs.
“We don't feel supported by our government officials," she said. "And the whole experience is extremely dehumanizing and it's very discouraging.”
The concern now is how the city’s current budget woes will affect the lawsuits going forward.
