School day canceled for Saul Martinez Elementary because of storm damage

The downpour from Tuesday’s storm drenched the city of Mecca and left neighbors like Emilio Camaddo sweeping up the wet mess from their homes throughout the night.

“I’m preparing the house for my family and this is what happens. There’s mud inside the house and mud in the rooms. I just remodeled everything so it’s like a setback,” he said.

It was a setback for many others in the neighborhood and schools in the area as flood waters rushed in.

School wasn’t canceled on Tuesday at Mecca Elementary or Saul Martinez Elementary. However, teachers and students were moved to other classrooms after parts of the schools filled up with two to three inches of water.

“Water had come into several classrooms and into the multipurpose room and also into the library,” said principal Jesse Alvarez, of Mecca Elementary School.

The Coachella Valley Unified School District says because of the damage caused by ankle-deep flood waters, Saul Martinez Elementary will be closed on Wednesday for water damage cleanup. The school is expected to reopen on Thursday.

Mecca Elementary will remain open.

“What we’re doing is we’re having a major company coming over and they’re going to be extracting the water and stripping carpets and making sure everything is ready,” said Alvarez.

Along with carpets, roads were underwater and closed throughout the day.

Camaddo says he won’t be moving into his newly remodeled home next week as planned because of the mess the storm blew in, but he’s optimistic.

“Now we’re just cleaning it up. We’re trying to prepare everything and go forward instead of backward,” said Camaddo.