Drivers continue dangerous flooded wash crossing, city officials respond

Palm Springs officials are responding to the repeated closures of roads going out to the freeway. Gene Autry, Indian Canyon, and Vista Chino are all still closed at the wash.

It's been a tough year with so many storms moving through the valley, regularly closing down flood and wind-prone roads.

Despite road closures due to flooding, it often does not stop some drivers from risking it to cross dangerously. Drivers often get stuck in muddy waters and are forced to be rescued. Nathan Gunkel with Palm Springs Fire Department said every water rescue lessens the resources available for other emergencies. 

"It affects not just the driver, all your occupants in the vehicle, and everyone coming out to rescue you," said Gunkel. "It's not taking one fire engine off the street, it's taken three or four off the street to do a safe rescue... "We've done everything we can. We've even widened the barricades all the way up against the curb. There's no way to squeeze around. So the bolts are even out farther."

But still, drivers either knock down the barriers or try to go around, leading to swift water rescues that could have been avoided. 

A video taken from above shows a river flowing for miles due to runoff from the mountains. It made its way through the washes, creating flooding issues on the valley floor.

"We will leave manpower there prior to the signs coming up prior to the road closures are put up. Once they're installed, once they're bolted in the ground, all the signs are up, they can see them, we will leave. We don't have the resources to leave manpower to take a fire engine out of service to block the road," said Gunkel.

Mayor grace garner did a flyover of the flooded washes Wednesday and saw firsthand drivers dangerously crossing.

"I immediately got on the phone with the city manager or the chief of police to let them know what was going on. And that we needed somebody to close the barricades," said Garner.

PSFD did a swift water rescue Wednesday when a driver got stuck going around the barricade.

"We have a new city manager, Scott Stiles, and so I'm going to be speaking with him about what our options are. Hopefully, we can do more patrols around those areas and talk about other barriers. I'm not sure if it's possible to put up a secondary set of barriers, for instance," said Garner.

The City of Palm Springs is still working on building bridges at the washes that often get flooded, but it will be years until they're ready.