Monsoonal rain and flooding hurts businesses in Twentynine Palms, costing one hotel owner millions of dollars

Twentynine Palms was under a Flash Flood Warning along Highway 62 on Wednesday afternoon, the third warning of its kind in a week. The warning began at 3:00 p.m. and expired at 6 p.m., but it was enough rain to warn drivers to stay off the roads.

City crews worked quickly to clear mud and debris from the streets and neighborhoods that had been left there after recent unprecedented rainfall. A chunk of road that was swept away Tuesday evening was also filled in and replaced by Wednesday afternoon.

It all comes after monsoonal conditions dumped large amounts of rain on the area in short amounts of time. It was a 'recipe for disaster', claims a local business owner, who has been frustrated with what he says is a 'lack of preparation from the city'. Veno Nathraj owns two hotels in the area, The Oasis Inn and Suites, and the Starlight Inn. Nathraj told News Channel Three's Tori King that he's been trying to warn city officials about flood issues for nearly two decades.

"I’ve been sounding the alarm for quite some time, and no one has been listening,” said Nathraj. Nathraj says his concerns about dangerous flooding and road conditions are being ignored. He comes from a construction background, and specifically mentioned a recent development and the flood channel uphill from his businesses, which he believes were hastily and improperly built. Because of that, he says a little bit of rain can turn into a big problem in a matter of minutes.

"I spoke with CalTrans," said Nathraj. " And they were upset that their flood channel was not maintained and was causing a lot of issues. I've been in this area for almost 25 years, but this recent rain was the first time I noticed that the road was shut off between Celia and Donelle. This was not our first flash flood, we have had many before, but none like this.”

Both Nathraj's hotels were damaged in the July 14th storm, but the Starlight Inn took the brunt of the damage. Nathraj saying the flooding was catastrophic.

"The water was almost up to 36 inches but it did subside," said Nathraj. "In some places is was 24 inches, others 16." Nathraj shared video with News Channel Three showing flood water flowing through the front doors of the hotel, the water up to a person's knees.

The dangerous flood nearly killed three of his family members, who were trapped inside one of the hotel rooms.

"My family escaped though the window, and my youngest son had to carry people to the first floor," said Nathraj, his eyes filling with tears.

The water destroyed the entire first floor of the inn, with more than 30 rooms unsalvageable. Nathraj says he will have to throw away several dozen chairs, beds, dressers, and more. The damage, in the millions. Since the flood, Nathraj has had to shut down the entire hotel. He's spent thousands of dollars over the past few days hiring crews to clear out mud and debris

Tuesday's flooding also didn't help. It brought in additional water in the areas that had finally dried out.

"I think we took out 500 scoops of mud," said Nathraj. "One and a half payload of soil from the parking lot alone. We haven't even started on the inside of the building.”

More monsoonal conditions rolled in the area on Wednesday afternoon, affecting local taco shop, Mexican Street Tacos. Although the restaurant is typically filled with customers on sunny days, shift lead Arianna Gonzalez says rainy days are tough on business, especially since they rely so heavily on Marines from Twentynine Palms, and tourists from Joshua Tree.

"We are the most recommended taco shop for Joshua Tree visitors, and for that we are so thankful," said Gonzalez. "We have a ton of great reviews and traffic, but a lot of people avoid going out on rainy days because of the roads and flooding."

Gonzalez also said a recent storm damaged part of their roof, which forced them to shut down for a day to repair.

"When it's been raining so much, things get damaged. The roads get shut down everywhere," said Gonzalez. "There were people stuck in their cars last week, we had lost power in our business, and our roofing got all messed up. That can really set a business back, but it has been fixed and now we are operating again, which we love."

Nathraj hopes other business owners continue to push city leaders for tangible change to prevent flooding during heavy rain, otherwise he worries it will only get worse in the future.

"The damage is going to run in the millions just for us," said Nathraj, talking about his hotels. "But I think the city, due to poor planning, costs taxpayers millions of dollars with these issues. But it's not only money they are wasting, city staff is wasting resources that could be utilized somewhere else."