SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Seeing the streets of Acampo now resemble rivers is heart breaking said homeowner Elias De Santiago. He said much of his family’s home is destroyed from the water.
“I’m at the point where I’m about to break down and I’m not that kind of person. There’s no word for it,” De Santiago said.
He’s a carpenter and said they only recently finished renovating much of the home. He’s been trying to turn the house into the dream home he said his wife and two sons deserve.
“I just remolded the whole kitchen, the whole living room, everything in my house, about five, six months ago. I’m down right here about $30,000 to $40,000,” he said.
The area received over an inch and half of rain over Sunday night. The San Joaquin Valley has seen over five inches since Friday.
One road over, Tony MiCallef said much of what he’s been working toward his whole life too has been destroyed by the water.
“I lost everything in that garage. My chickens were dead. You know it’s getting into my trailers, everything. It’s just ruined.”
De Santiago and MiCallef said new drainage pipes were installed under the roads to stop this type of flooding from happening, but it hasn’t worked.
“They said they put in new piping, so it’ll never flood again. Well, it’s flooded,” Tony said.
A Caltrans worker said pipes were installed, but everything from the pipes to pumps had been overloaded with the deluge they received.
Elias said he has home insurance, but it doesn’t cover flooding.
“We do OK financially, he said. “We are ok, but right now [shrugging his shoulder].”
He’s hoping the break in weather continues and is glad he has his extended family to count on during these hard times.