Two years after raging floodwaters roiled much of southeastern San Diego, destroying scores of homes and sending thousands of people fleeing, the city has agreed to pay more than $6 million to insurance companies stuck paying property owners\u2019 claims.<\/p>\n
The settlement was approved in a closed session of the San Diego City Council late last year. It is scheduled to be confirmed in a public session next week.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis action involves the resolution of 4 pending subrogation lawsuits against the city for amounts 17 insurance carriers paid to their insureds for damages arising out of the Jan. 22, 2024 rain event and flooding in the amount of $6,326,330.75,\u201d the memo to council says.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s signed by assistant city attorney Jean Jordan, who worked four months last year<\/a> while traveling on an around-the-world cruise.<\/p>\n The City Attorney\u2019s Office did not respond to a request to comment Wednesday on the settlement recommendation, or on how insurers were being paid ahead of local flood victims. Council members did not issue any public statements about the proposed payout.<\/p>\n The settlement will be debated at the council meeting Tuesday.<\/p>\n The discussion comes as the city continues to litigate a spate of civil lawsuits filed by property owners and tenants, along with cross-complaints that city lawyers have filed against some of them.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are pleased to see the city take some responsibility for its part in the damage,\u201d said Maria Severson, one of the attorneys representing dozens of flood victims, in an email. \u201cWith the insurance company claims behind them, the city must now focus on settlement to compensate the resident and business victims.\u201d<\/p>\n Evan Walker, another lawyer representing plaintiffs, said the city\u2019s proposed payment to insurance companies shows where its priorities lie, especially while flood victims continue to struggle with housing and routine finances.<\/p>\n \u201cThe city is ready, willing and able to pay multimillion dollars to billion-dollar insurance companies,\u201d he said, \u201cbut so far, not a cent to the flood victims, their own residents, who they are still fighting in court.\u201d<\/p>\n Jerry Hernandez\u2019s Southcrest home was destroyed in the floods, and he ended up moving to Mission Valley to start over. He lost everything to the floodwaters \u2014 clothing, furniture, his car \u2014 and says recovery has left him $10,000 to $15,000 in debt.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s not right; they should be settling with us,\u201d he said of the city, adding that its agreement with insurers just makes the emotional and financial struggle of the last two years \u201churt more.\u201d<\/p>\n Early on Jan. 22, 2024, a persistent drenching hung over parts of San Diego County, sending millions of gallons of rain into an overwhelmed flood-control system.<\/p>\n The worst of the damage was reported along Chollas Creek communities like Shelltown, Barrio Logan and Southcrest, where terrified residents were sent scrambling to rooftops to escape the rising tide of floodwater.<\/p>\n Two bodies later found in Santee were being investigated as flood-related, along with a fatal crash in Lemon Grove.<\/p>\n Days later, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that city storm drains and other prevention systems had long been neglected by city officials despite years of warnings that the area was badly vulnerable to flooding, among them at least one prior lawsuit and payout.<\/p>\n \u201cAge, combined with deferred maintenance due to historic underfunding of the storm drain system, poses a risk of flooding and catastrophic failure,\u201d city officials wrote in a report<\/a> that was published just before the flood.<\/p>\n In the last two years, the city has performed more regular maintenance<\/a> on channel segments impacted by the 2024 floods, but recent city records<\/a> show that nearly half of all its channel segments and infrastructure haven\u2019t been maintained in at least 15 years.<\/p>\n The $6.3 million payment to 17 different insurers will come from the city\u2019s public liability fund, a self-insurance program managed by the Risk Management Department. In the past two years, the department\u2019s budget has climbed from $14.9 million to $20.4 million.<\/p>\n The memo from the City Attorney\u2019s Office to the City Council does not say how much each insurer will get from the settlement.<\/p>\n It\u2019s frustrating to see insurance companies paid before flood victims, said community advocate Clariza Marin.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re putting these corporate interests before the individuals, and that\u2019s where it\u2019s a slap in the face,\u201d she said. \u201cYou still have people \u2026 living in their trailer because they can\u2019t finish their house.\u201d<\/p>\n The settlement also comes as the city struggles with a $100 million budget deficit for 2027 that remains to be solved.<\/p>\n Officials did not respond to questions Wednesday about\u00a0how much San Diego has paid in claims in recent years.<\/p>\n