‘Hilary’s little sister’: Rachel’s rain has Coachella Valley roofers racing from leak to leak
PALM SPRINGS, Calif. (KESQ) The remnants of Tropical Storm Rachel cleared out of the Coachella Valley on Sunday. The leaks it left behind are keeping one local roofing company’s phones busy.
Jessica and Ryan Bond, co-owners of family-owned RB Roofing, said calls started Saturday night as the storm dropped 1.15 inches of rain on Palm Springs and 1.71 inches on Thermal, according to National Weather Service totals reported Sunday. By Monday, they were driving from one leak to the next.
“It’s actually been Hilary’s little sister, Rachel,” Jessica Bond said. “She didn’t come in with a vengeance like we experienced a few years ago, but our phones have been ringing off the hook.”
Tropical Storm Hilary set Palm Springs’ single-day rainfall record with 3.18 inches on Aug. 20, 2023.
Bond said many of this week’s calls are coming from homeowners who thought their Hilary problems were behind them.
“A lot of homeowners, it’s like Groundhog Day for them,” she said. “Things that they experienced during Hilary, they’re all coming back up because that rainfall came in and it came hard.”
She said repairs made after that storm are failing early because they were not done correctly the first time.
The most urgent calls involve flat roofs holding standing water, a problem roofers call ponding. Ryan Bond said a flat roof without proper slope will hold water, and the water will find any opening.
“If there’s a little pinhole, all the water is coming into the house until it’s all gone off the roof,” he said.
Jessica Bond said some homeowners who started leaking Saturday are still seeing drips Monday because water is still sitting on their roofs. Crews are clearing that water first, then making repairs.
On tile roofs, the damage usually starts small. One broken or slipped tile exposes the underlayment, the paper layer beneath the tiles designed to stay out of the sun, Jessica Bond said. Once exposed, it breaks down and lets water through.
Drains and gutters clogged with tamarisk and palm debris pool water on the roof, where it soaks into the underlayment. Swamp coolers dripping onto a roof can weaken the material beneath them before anyone notices, she said.
“These things can be avoided if you definitely have somebody checking your roof every once in a while,” she said. “But unfortunately, it’s one of those things we’re not really proactive about because we don’t see it and we’re not looking at it every day.”
Asked about seasonal residents and visitors who do not keep up with maintenance, Bond said homes that sit for months without a roof check are the ones kicking themselves now.
Ryan Bond recommends a roof inspection once a year, or twice a year for homes near trees, hillsides or sand dunes.
Rachel flooded roads across the valley early Sunday and left North Shore streets buried in mud. The First Alert Weather team expects skies to clear this week, with highs in the 70s and 80s.
Jessica Bond said the company is pushing to get estimates and repairs done before the next round of rain, which she expects by the holidays.
“Unfortunately, this is just the beginning,” she said. “Last year the rain was crazy during those weeks, and it’s kind of feeling like a trend.”
Ryan Bond said he has lived in the Coachella Valley for 11 years and started the company after working for other roofers in the area whose practices he did not like. Jessica Bond was born and raised in Palm Springs, according to the company’s website.
