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Dozens displaced Jan. 22 at Rolando apartment complex that has flooded in the past
By Miriam Raftery
February 16, 2024 (San Diego) – When a flood control channel next to Donna Ferguson’s townhome on Bonillo Drive in San Diego’s Rolando community, water surged through the ground floor, sweeping away everything in its path including furniture, appliances and clothes, also destroying the electric scooter chair that she relies on for mobility.
“My daughter and her three children, ages 15,6 and 3, had been staying with me off and on to help out due to my medical conditions,” Ferguson told ECM, adding that all of the children’s belongings were lost. “I have long term COVID symptoms—osteoarthritis in my knees and feet, blood clots in my legs, partial hearing loss, and macular degeneration in my left eye.”
Ferguson adds, “We also lost most of our belongings upstairs due to previous and current mold. She says that when she rented at the low-income complex. she was not aware that it had flooded at least twice before.
The apartment manager initially paid for the family to stay in a hotel, but have been told they must now find their own accommodations, says Ferguson. Though management waived March rent, the family’s GoFundMe page states that their home “has been deemed uninhabitable due to sewage, gasoline, oil, and bacteria in the water.”
The Ferguson family urgently needs money to relocate into a safe home as soon as possible, as well as for temporary lodging in another hotel or motel until they can find another place to stay.
NBC 7 news also interviewed Ferguson and other tenants, who said they repeatedly asked the city of San Diego to clear the storm drain after two prior floods and before the heavy rains forecast in January, but their pleas fell on deaf ears.
After the January 22 flooding, Ferguson says city workers finally cleared out two palm trees growing in the channel, after they toppled over in the storm. “They should have done this a long time ago,” she says.
You can help Donna Ferguson and her family by donating at their GoFundMe page: https://www.gofundme.com/f/donna-ferguson-flood-fund?member=32037817&sharetype=teams&utm_campaign=p_na+share-sheet&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook
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