Resource Center opens in Spring Valley for victims of storm damage
SPRING VALLEY, Calif — Victims of last week’s flash flooding are finding vital information at the county of San Diego’s newly opened resource center now open in Spring Valley.
“We’ve got some great produce,” said Frank Ortego from the San Diego Food Bank. “Honeydew, watermelon, potatoes and tangerines.”
City of San Diego gives update on storm recovery and preparedness
Located within the Spring Valley County Library, there are over 25 governmental agencies and non-profits providing every kind of advice flood victims need — even some advice they may not know they need.
“They walk in and think they may need some food, some clothing,” explained Chuck Westerheide, who is with the County of San Diego Safety Group. “Then they find out that they need to stop the property taxes on their home or their utilities are still turned on, but they’re not living at their home. Well that bill is going to come to them at the end of the month if they don’t get that turned off.”
San Diego flood help: What to do if you were impacted by the floods
The historic rain throughout the county last Monday left widespread damage from flooding – especially in hard hit areas like National City, Shelltown and Southcrest, where some families lost everything and are now looking for answers about how to recover not just their homes, but insurance claims, property tax relief, replacing destroyed documents.
“They may need to talk to somebody about their property taxes, the assessor’s office is there. They may walk around to the back side of that and feel that they need to talk to the food bank so they can come out here and get some food. Some people don’t have their driver’s license anymore so they have to go to the DMV, in this case we have it here, and we can get them a new driver’s license.”
Hundreds show up at assistance center for San Diego flood victims on opening day
Since the resource center opened Sunday they have seen nearly a thousand households. They will stay open until they are no longer needed. For now they are open through Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
“The Salvation Army is inside handing people out just basic clothing supplies. They walk in, they don’t have any of their clothes anymore, so they’ve really got to have something just to wear, to put on their kids the next day so they can still go to school while they’re sorting out all the problems that they’ve had in the last week.”
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