La Quinta residents blame neglected city project for flooding

Ted Hammam’s house in La Quinta flooded with more than 3 inches of water during the storm Sept. 8.

“The whole house, even the closets,” said Hamman.

Neighbors told us the source of flooding in their area was at the end of Avenida Carranza, where an old flood protection dike was covered by dirt and debris for years. When the storm hit, it forced water into multiple homes on five cul-de-sacs in the La Quinta cove. Neighbors said they begged the city to fix the problem more than a year ago.

“Unfortunately the storm happened about a week before we were going to be submitting plans in getting that permit,” said La Quinta Public Works director Tim Jonasson.

The city said the project has been on its to-do list since the same area flooded last August, but because of planning and efforts to get proper permits from the Coachella Valley Water District, it didn’t get to the project until last week. The city did an emergency fix by installing drain pipe extensions and gravel.

“They should’ve done it last year. I don’t know what their problem was,” said Bill Dobbs, of La Quinta.

“It’s just negligent they didn’t fix it sooner. They’ve known for quite a while,” said Hammam.

It cost the city $30,000 for the first phase of the project, but neighbors on Avenida Carranza said it cost them even more to repair the damage done to their homes.

“I think it should’ve been done long ago. We would’ve never flooded. It’s costing me just short of $70,000,” said Hammam.

Jonasson said the pipes would’ve provided some relief during the extreme weather but not enough.

“If you look at the pipe’s size, they would’ve helped but it wouldn’t have prevented all of the water from coming that we saw. There was just too much water coming from the cove area,” said Hammam.

The La Quinta Public Works Department will present a permanent plan to the city Oct. 7 at 4:30 p.m. at City Hall.