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Palm Springs residents concerned snowmelt runoff could lead to flooding

As a storm moves into the southland, there are concerns about snow-melt and flooding. Some Palm Springs residents worry that all the snow in the surrounding mountains could quickly melt and cause heavy flooding.

Amma Clark lives in Safari Park in Palm Springs, where the Valentine's Day flood of 2019 caused lots of damage. 

"I'm concerned about the flood-- it flooding, but my house is pretty secure because it's like three feet off the ground," said Clark. I've heard some of the neighbors say that they're kind of concerned, especially the one that was flooded."

Louie Lopez lives at Horizon Mobile Home Village in Palms Springs. Even though he experienced heavy flooding in 2019, he says the area is better prepared should the flooding happen again.

"We had a lot of overflow. And we had to be evacuated," said Lopez. "Every year you have snow, there's going to be runoff."

As the director of public works for the City of Palm Springs, David McAbee is monitoring the snow melt from surrounding mountains for potential flood risks to the area.

"We hope that it will come down gradually. That's certainly our hope. And if it winds up being a larger storm, we're certainly prepared for that. And you know, we'll deal with it accordingly," said McAbee. "We take [resident's] concerns very, very seriously and, you know, again, we monitor as closely as we can, and we you know, we do everything we can to make sure that everyone is aware of any closures and aware of any impending storms."

He said the city is still working towards building bridges over the washes that get easily flooded. But in the meantime:

"It's just a matter of just monitoring it and just keeping an eye on it. And you know, and we'll see where we go. I don't think anybody really knows at this point," said McAbee.

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Marian Bouchot

Marian Bouchot is the weekend morning anchor and a reporter for KESQ News Channel 3. Learn more about Marian here.

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