SAN DIEGO (Border Report) — With a major storm approaching the Tijuana-San Diego region this week, employees at a sod farm in the Tijuana River Valley dismissed the possibility of any flooding now that an earthen levee has been repaired.
That same berm, which snakes along the north bank of the Tijuana River, gave way nearly 14 months ago leading to catastrophic flooding at the grass-growing operation.
Back then, as the water receded, a thick layer of trash and other debris was left behind, leading to a halt in operations until the cleanup was completed.
The International Boundary and Water Commission, which oversees the land, took months to remove 650 tons of waste materials from the site.
But repairing the berm was the responsibility of West Coast Turf, the company that leases the land from IBWC to grow sod.
Workers spent weeks filling in two gaping openings in the levee, their work was finished earlier this month.
So far, it’s been pretty uneventful.
The storms that have gone through the region since January, have not provided much rain or a test for the berm and runoff from south of the border has been minimal.
The precipitation moving into the area this week is expected to bring a lot of rain through Thursday afternoon.
One worker who wanted to remain anonymous said, they are pretty confident their work will hold up and they won’t see any flooding saying the berm “will protect their jobs.”
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