California Flood Relief

January 2023 – February 2024
Last updated: March 2024

All Hands and Hearts (AHAH) responded to January 22nd’s historic rainfall in San Diego County. The storm caused relentless flooding, impacting hundreds of homes and thousands of individuals. In this month-long program, our Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) identified and met the urgent relief needs of disaster-impacted communities.

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Our Work

AHAH forged essential relationships with local authorities and organizations such as Team Rubicon, Habitat for Humanity, Girl Scouts and Community Organized Relief Effort (CORE) to meet the urgent needs of those most affected by flood and with least access to recovery resources. Our work extended across San Diego County, including Shelltown, Southcrest and Spring Valley.

Our efforts primarily focused on muck and guts and mold sanitation on damaged homes – crucial first steps in ensuring the home is safe and prepared for the repair/rebuild process. Through over 1,200 volunteer hours, the team completed 29 muck and guts to remove water-damaged items from homes, such as personal belongings, drywall, doors or floorboards. Seven homes received direct mold sanitation support, and the local Southern Baptist church will complete the remainder, now equipped with mold sanitation kits.

Outside of this work, the team worked closely with a local nonprofit, Rise Up San Diego, to assist with sorting and distributing to affected individuals and families.

DART wrapped up work on February 19, 2024, and will donate the rest of the supplies to the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), which will continue to provide relief for the area.

Disaster Profile

On the night of January 22, 2024, San Diego County of California experienced a “thousand-year storm,” which is a storm of a specific magnitude only having a 1 in 1,000 chance of occurring in a given year. The historic rainfall caused devastating flash flooding that left 15,000 houses without power, thousands of buildings and homes damaged and many destroyed. Many of the region’s residents were forced to leave their homes. The areas hardest hit were National City, El Cajon, Coronado City, Spring Valley and Southeastern San Diego.

Program History

Berry Creek, January - February 2023

In January and February 2023, All Hands and Hearts responded to severe storms and rainfall in Northern California that impacted millions across the region, causing 500 landslides, 22 casualties and 200,000 homes to lose power. Team members located close by on our California Wildfire Relief program in Paradise traveled to Berry Creek, which experienced significant flooding and damage to homes and infrastructure.

Our team set up a short-term response and connected with local disaster case managers, community members and Community Organized Relief Effort (CORE) to acquire a list of property owners who needed immediate assistance. Our work on five homes consisted of removing water-logged and moldy debris, felling hazardous trees that threatened houses, and forming evacuation routes on properties.

Lives Impacted

Volunteers

Rebuilds and Repairs

Trees Felled

Acres Cleared