Sand makes some homes unlivable

Abel Garcia spends most of his days lately shoveling sand.

“We have to clean it everyday. Nothing worse than sand in your house,” Garcia said.

The street he lives on, Robert Road in Thousand Palms, has sand everywhere – three to four inches of sand piling up creating sand walls, hiding front lawns.

“The sand builds up then after a while the grass won’t grow anymore in the sand,” he said.

Garcia says he’s tried everything: daily shoveling, a $1500 cleanup project.

“I put in boards, long boards 12 inches wide. It helped,” he said.

A few doors down, Karren Mitchell calls shoveling a lost cause.

“This is after we cleaned it up. After we had someone come in,” she said.

These neighbors have more in common than just living in a sand castle – they can’t live in it.

“It’s terrible. Sometimes you get locked in the house because locks get clogged up with sand, so you have to call someone to let you out,” Mitchell said.

As for Garcia, he’s putting down the shovel – and putting up a for sale sign.