Homeless community displaced downtown after torrential rain

SAN DIEGO — Holding back tears and tight to faith, Deborah Falkner and JJ Fisher are just two of over 300 forced out of their shelter in the East Village Monday.

“It hurts your heart, but you know you’ve got God,” Falkner tearfully expressed.

The two friends lived at the Alpha Project bridge shelter on Newton Avenue and 16th Street. Their temporary home is now in ruins and buried beneath it all are missing essentials.

“Losing your ID, losing your social security card — I’ve got to go through all of that again. I don’t know how I’m going to do that,” said Fisher.

San Diegans cry, hug outside damaged homes after stunning flash floods in normally balmy city

Since then, they and over 100 others who agreed to transfer to a temporary shelter at Balboa Park are left with uncertainty.

However, for Jose Louis, who FOX 5 met when exploring what’s left over of the wrecked shelter, is not going. He says he can’t afford a ride to get him to the Balboa Park location and would rather spend transportation money on his ride to get to work.

Across the way is the sound of clean up at the Health Center at Father Joe’s Villages. Fans were blasting as we toured the facility, drying out the impacts of torrential rain.

“Baseboards have been taking up, we want to make sure that no mold is forming behind us. We have an outside team in here to make sure that everything is safe,” shared Deacon Jim Vargas.

Monday’s downpour was yet another devastating blow to this newly renovated building after it was destroyed just last year by severe weather.

“We had new digs in a sense, right? And now to have this happen in less than a year, frustrating as you can imagine saying the least,” said Vargas.

Over 100 were also displaced at the City of San Diego’s first designated safe sleeping site Monday on 20th and B Street, fueling talk on a long-term fix.

“Next year we will be able to add another thousand beds to our inventory, net, not gross net. The relocation of these temporary facilities and these new facilities to make sure we’re growing our shelter capacity for the unsheltered in our community,” Mayor Todd Gloria said at a press conference Tuesday.

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