More than 700 people have joined a lawsuit against the City of San Diego, claiming it failed to maintain Chollas Creek ahead of the historic January rainfall, which they allege made the flooding far more devastating.
“This is the story of the City of San Diego neglecting its maintenance obligations in the Chollas Creek channel and flooding thousands of south San Diegans—destroying their lives, homes, and businesses,” the suit reads.
The suit alleges before the rain of Jan. 22, the city knew Chollas Creek posed a flooding risk and must be maintained.
“Yet the City deliberately ignored these facts,” the suit reads. “Rather than perform preventative maintenance on the Channel to clear vegetation, sediment, and trash, the City only performed maintenance after the Channel overflowed. Rather than invest taxpayer dollars in infrastructure improvements and maintenance plans, the City moved funds dedicated to its stormwater infrastructure to less urgent projects.”
The city does not …