The temporary homeless shelter that was overcome by stormwater earlier this month was set up in the middle of a downtown San Diego flood plain -- and city officials are working to reopen the center as quickly as possible.

Massive gushes of water inundated the temporary shelter on the night of Dec. 6, hours before a flash-flood warning from the National Weather Service was set to expire. The sudden downpour sent hundreds of people scrambling for help and destroyed many of their worldly possessions.

City officials responded to the emergency quickly, marshaling buses from the Metropolitan Transit System to shuttle some 325 people from 16th Street and Newton Avenue to makeshift quarters at the city stadium in Mission Valley.


They also are covering the costs of damage to property and equipment owned by the Alpha Project, the San Diego nonprofit that operates the facility.

The neighborhood’s vulnerability to flash floods has been well-documented.

According to maps created by the regional planning agency San Diego Association of Governments, the 16th Street shelter is in a flood zone identified by the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Association.

Alpha Project CEO Bob McElroy said he had no idea the location was part of an identified flood zone.


“I’m not an archaeologist and nobody tells me anything,” he said. “We’ve been there 12 times over the last 20 years, and we’ve always mitigated (rainstorms) with sand bags and what not.”

An aide to Mayor Kevin Faulconer said city officials knew about the designation before the location was approved as a shelter site but noted that much of the beach areas and Mission Valley also are vulnerable to flooding.

Mayoral spokesman Greg Block said the 16th Street site is included in an area expected to flood less often than in some designated in nearby blocks downtown.

“This site is located within an area identified to have a 0.2 percent chance of flooding in any given year,” he wrote in an email. “This location has been used for many years as a site for a winter shelter, without incident.”


The SANDAG map shows several parts of the county are especially prone to flooding, notably parts of the San Diego Rivershed, Jamacha, Bonita and El Cajon. The most vulnerable areas are lower-lying spaces that attract runoff from the mountains and canyons.

San Diego County was drenched with more than 2 inches of rain in barely 24 hours earlier this month, much of it coming in heavy cloudbursts striking different parts of the region. Downtown was particularly hard hit.

The staff and residents of the downtown bridge shelter were overcome by water as it seeped into the temporary structure and began rising rapidly.

“It was major flooding, there was nothing that we could have done,” said Amy Gonyeau, the Alpha Project chief operating officer. “The water was like 3 feet high in places. It was really crazy. I’ve never seen it like that.”


Sarah Elkind is a professor of environmental, political and urban history at San Diego State University who has studied flood-control practices across Southern California.

Flood plains are drawn by government planners so property owners and insurers are aware of the threat -- not to deter people from building in the areas, Elkind said. And people tend to resist rules that prohibit development in areas that are vulnerable to natural disasters, she said.

“We only get an average of 10 or 11 inches of rain a year, so why would you invest in flood control rather than, say, wildfire mitigation,” Elkind said. “Public officials are always trying to weigh the risks and balance it with the cost of prevention.”

Much of downtown is vulnerable to flooding, but most buildings are permanent and less likely to be overcome by stormwater, she said. And every new project means there is less undeveloped property to absorb the stormwater.


“The homeless shelter flooded because it isn’t a structure,” she said. “Every bit of construction in a watershed is going to increase the flood threat because it compresses the rainfall into a smaller and smaller space.”

Locating homeless shelters -- even temporary ones -- historically has been tricky for elected officials.

In making decisions, governments may tend to avoid liability that can come with supporting efforts to place homeless or other populations into government-paid programs like shelters or treatment centers for drug addicts and serial inebriates.

The flooded Alpha Project tent, one of three facilities called bridge shelters because it seeks to provide interim housing while permanent homes are found for clients, is no exception.


The Mayor’s Office selected the site near 16th Street and Newton Avenue in part because fewer people complained about the location. The massive white tent was erected on a dead-end city street, just outside the Metropolitan Transit System bus yard.

Homeless advocate Michael McConnell said he is troubled that the shelter was allowed in a flood zone and even more bothered that the city plans to reopen in the same place.

“Why would you take the chance and put this vulnerable population right back where they just had this horrible experience?” he asked. “The message is: ‘We really don’t care about you. We just want to do what’s easy.’”

McConnell said the city should explore how more progressive cities confront homelessness and open smaller shelters in more neighborhoods.


“I’m all about cost-efficiency and effectiveness,” he said. “We should want to try to do something a little bit different and not keep doing the same things and expecting different results. There are a lot of things we could be doing in a smarter way.”

Alpha Project CEO McElroy said the city is paying for hundreds of damaged mattresses, computer equipment, heating and air systems and other property damaged by the flood. Block, the spokesman for Mayor Faulconer, said it was too soon to say how much the damage might cost.

“The city is covering a variety of expenses to make sure the shelter is operational as soon as possible,” he wrote in an email. “The final cost estimate isn’t available yet.”

McElroy said he hopes to reopen the Newton Avenue tent as soon as this week.


jeff.mcdonald@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1708 @sdutMcDonald