Cathedral City business now deals with millions of dollars worth of damage.
The aftermath of tropical storm Hilary has been felt across the Coachella Valley. One Cathedral City business now deals with millions of dollars worth of damage.
"We lost all our equipment," says the owner of Desert Promotion, Somu Desai. "Every embroidery machine, every printing machine, every printer, all our computers and desks. Everything".
As the owner of Desert Promotions, Somu Desai, says, the financial burden is too painful to think about.
"We need some federal state city help, anything we can get up, get our hands on because right now, I mean, this is so unexpected, you know," says Desai.
You should fill out the County's damage reporting form if your home or business is damaged.
The process will help determine if Riverside County qualifies for state or federal disaster programs. You can find more explanation on Cathedral City's website. City officials say they will need help from the state and federal levels. "Our Economic Development Director is in constant communication with our business community, and many have reported their damages to us already," says the city's Communications & Events Manager, Ryan Hunt. "Some of those damages were part of the $126 million assessment published by the County.
Desai says friends have donated tractors, bulldozers, and their time to clean the damage.
"I mean, without community support, this is not possible," says Desai. "This is this is beyond our, our hands, you know? Yeah, no one person can do this one."
"We are coming here every day, little by little, one scoop at a time," says Desai. "We finished cleaning the parking up parking lot a bit. We're working inside the building. We just finished maybe a little bit of one room, but we have a long way to go."
There was a water dispenser submerged in the mud, and the refrigerator completely lifted in what used to be the break room.
Desai says that two machines will likely cost two hundred thousand dollars to replace in one of the rooms.
"Hopefully, we get some kind of assistance, cleaning, rebuilding and property recovery, little mitigation, things like that."
