SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — A dramatic surveillance video from Logan Heights shows how quickly Monday's floodwaters submerged cars and flooded homes.
For Jon Cabalza and his dad, Juan, the cleanup is just beginning at their Logan Avenue home.
Their surveillance camera captured the cause of the damage on Monday morning.
“I was just waking up. My dad was on the couch when the water started to rise up,” Jon Cabalza said.
At 10:19 a.m., Jon Cabalza's first task was to drive his year-old Tesla to higher ground. You can see him wading through the water when he returns.
“As soon as I get back, I saw all the water rushing in,” Jon Cabalza said.
By then, it was too late to move his father's vehicle, now a third submerged. By 10:30 a.m., the yard became a lake as household items began floating.
The water started filling up their home and the apartments of two tenants.
At 10:40 a.m., one of their tenants, a couple and their 2-year-old on the roof, before they made their way down, grabbed a floating door to use as a raft for their daughter.
Inside Jon Cabalza's home, a frantic mission unfolded. Jon Cabalza and his dad were trying to get as much as possible to higher ground, including a laptop, a monitor and important documents.
“I was sad because I knew it was going to be bad, and I was going to lose a lot,” said Juan Cabalza.
At 10:50 a.m., Juan Cabalza's car was nearly submerged. The water level was just under the front door knob of one of the apartments.
Inside Jon Cabalza's home, the water had risen to chest level.
“I was distressed. After a while, it kind of gets a little bit hopeless,” said Jon.
Jon has asked his 76-year-old dad to leave, but he refused.
“I wasn't too worried because he knows how to swim,” said Juan.
Past 11 a.m., the rain had nearly swallowed up the whole car. The water reached the doorknob outside, and inside, Jon Cabalza convinced his dad to stand on this kitchen sink.
The water began to recede in the next 20 minutes, along with the anxiety of that water-logged hour, which felt much longer.
“In that hour, it seemed like an eternity. [It] seemed like it would never go down,” Jon Cabalza said.
