Over the three-day weekend, from March 7 to March 9, several La Jolla High School classrooms flooded because of the massive torrents of rain that hit La Jolla. Around San Diego, roads, freeways, and intersections were all shut down on Thursday night. Multiple cars were submerged in water, and the San Diego Fire Department had to rescue the drivers.
At La Jolla High School, many classrooms ended up with flood damage. Most of the flood damage can be attributed to La Jolla High being at the bottom of the hill on Nautilus Street. psychology and art history teacher Kerry Dill says, “Some of my personal stuff was destroyed, my speaker system, some books. Other than that, it’s just disruptive because you learn in one classroom and have to take a test in another room completely. Half of my classroom [was damaged], but the class next to me, the entirety of the classroom, was flooded.” However, the faculty and custodians at LJHS are handling the flood well though. According to Dill, “They’re pulling out the drywall by my desk and by the front too. They have big, high-powered dehumidifiers and dryers in there now. They’re going to replace the drywall, and we’re asking about carpet. The school handled it really well. I came in on Friday, and I was ready for a fight to demand change, but they were already willing to get in and fix it. We flood a lot here, but I think it was just the amount that we got, like the torrential downpour, but part of the issue is the pine trees, that drop a lot of debris and fill up the drains and the gutters.” San Diego is generally not as well prepared for flooding as other cities are. While the City of San Diego is taking steps to prepare for flooding and is encouraging San Diegans to protect their homes ahead of the storm, it’s not enough, and the drains aren’t up to standard. Math teacher Greg Kinsel says, “I’ve been here for twenty years; the school has a history of flooding. They didn’t repair the drain correctly the first time, so it flooded again…It’s a normal little drain, but if you get so much rain, it won’t handle it.”