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La Mesa RV resort residents hope Christmas storms don't flood homes again

Posted at 6:11 PM, Dec 22, 2019
and last updated 2019-12-23 00:44:04-05

LA MESA (KGTV)— Meteorologists are predicting a wet Christmas week in San Diego. 10News revisited residents at the San Diego RV Resort in La Mesa that dealt with a Thanksgiving flood to see if they are prepared for the next set of thunderstorms.

Taylor Jaime showed 10News around the RV resort.

"She [My mother] was cooking a turkey at my sister's house for Thanksgiving," Jaime remembered. She said she never got to enjoy that turkey after her home got washed away.

Jaime and her family live at the San Diego RV Resort full-time. On Thanksgiving day, heavy rains inundated the ravine that runs parallel to the resort.

"So the water started coming over this [the wall]," Jaime motioned.

The retaining wall collapsed and the water came up waist-high, destroying two of her cars, their 40-foot trailer and everything inside. Unfortunately, their the new RV was insured at the time of the storm.

"The water was so nasty. There was crab, there was fish in the trailer," Jaime remembered.

According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the RV resort is right in the middle of a heavy flood zone. The resort staff told 10News they just finished rebuilding the wall Saturday.

In the last month, Jaime said she saw Caltrans and California Conservation Corps workers clean up some of the debris, but she fears another collapse.

"The water won't be able to go through. It'll get stuck down there, like last time," pointing at the west end of the resort lot.

With heavy rains forecasted during Christmas week, some of Jaime's neighbors have already lined sandbags along their lots.

Lucky for Jaime and her family, they have a spare trailer, albeit an older and smaller one. They parked it away from the ravine and closer to the entrance gate. Six people and several small animals are now crammed inside the trailer. They didn't skimp on holiday decorations, though.

"We are still in the spirit," Jaime said. "It's not going to bring us down. We are still a family. We still have each other. And that's what matters the most."

10News reached out to San Diego RV Resort's parent company for comment to see if they are making other preparations ahead of the storm. They did not respond to our inquiries.