Some roads remain damaged & closed due to storm
Some roads across the valley are still damaged as residents continue to deal with the aftermath of last week’s record-breaking storm.
“It’s been like 20 years since this road got broken off like that,” said Claire Guberson, a Palm Springs visitor.
Watch: Coverage of Thursday’s storm
People across the valley are in agreement., last week’s storm was one of the worst they’ve ever seen.
“I’ve been coming here probably last five-six years twice a year, springs and fall but that was quite a rainstorm,” said Ruben Aab, a Palm Springs visitor.
Read: Running list of Coachella Valley, regional road closures
Many people have been stopping in damaged areas simply to take pictures of the shocking destruction left behind.
Caltrans District 8 tweeted late last night that part of Highway 111 that had collapsed now has limited access one lane of traffic in each direction.
View this post on Instagram Highway 111 on on the road into Palm Springs.
A post shared by CityofPalmSprings (@cityofps) on Feb 14, 2019 at 4:14pm PST
S Farrell Drive in Palm Springs and Avenue 44 in Indio were left in ruins. The damage on major arteries is forcing people to take detours.
Neighbors in Indio say many use Avenue 44 to take their kids to school and get to work daily.
“It looks bad. They haven’t come and said anything to us about when it’s opening or whether they’re fixing it or not…so we have to take other roads,” said Indio resident Rosy Park.
Park says that residents are concerned about the time and money it will take to get things back to normal.
“We’re so used to taking this road to wherever we have to go. This is a main road for us so we don’t have to go all the way around,” Park said.
Residents say they hope that the city considers building a bridge in that location instead of repairing the lower part of Avenue 44, as it has a tendency to flood.
At the Mesquite Golf Club in Palm Springs, a bridge collapsed and debris continues to flow into the course.
“There was a wash directly in front of where we teed off,” said Dolores Dawson, a Palm Springs Visitor. “In the 10 winters we never ever saw any rain that did this kind of damage or even that great amount of rain”
People living nearby are also worried about how long it could take to fix the damage.
“I spoke to a lady yesterday who had water coming into her condominium and flooded out her ground floor and that had never happened to her before,” Giberson said.
Caltrans is warning drivers to use extreme caution in the next couple of weeks as they anticipate work crews and large trucks out on damaged roads.
