Storm soaks Cathedral City, community cleans up

Sunday’s downpour created a big mess in some parts of the Coachella Valley. Water flooded city roads and left some cars stranded, leaving behind a lot to clean up Monday.

The storm transformed Century Park in Cathedral City into what neighbors called “Century Lake.”

Families grabbed their swim trunks and hopped in the floodwater during and after the storm the passed.

“We came to enjoy the lake, the family pool,” said Vickie White, of Cathedral City.

“We like the big puddle because it’s super fun,” said 5-year-old Nathaniel White.

The big puddle looked like a big problem, however engineers designed the Century Park to be a water retention basin to protect homes during flash floods. The water quickly dried up at the park by Monday eveing.

“We get to enjoy it during the year, but when it’s raining it does its purpose. We feel safe knowing our homes aren’t going to get flooded. It’s going to run here,” said Vickie.

At the corner of Ramon Road and Landau a sidewalk collapsed after runoff water eroded dirt beneath it and flushed it all out.

“They’re still assessing that. It’ll take a few days,” said Chris Parman, the Cathedral City communications manager. “It will be fixed.”

All was dry at the new Eagle Canyon Flood Control Dam on East Palm Canyon Drive.

“We had a minimal amount of water so our check dams and provisions to protect all held up and there were no problems here.”

Vickie grabbed a broom to help clean up the park.

“It was kind of messy and muddy here so I decided to just clean it. I take pride in my community and my park,” said White.