Hundreds of flood victims file lawsuit against City of San Diego, seeking $100 million

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) -- Hundreds of residents and property owners in one of San Diego’s hardest hit areas from the January 22 flooding have filed a lawsuit against the City of San Diego.

"It's been catastrophic for I think everyone that's been involved. The businesses that we've talked to that have lost income, the families we have talked to that have lost homes, the children that have missed school, we have clients that were trapped in their home because of the flood water and were hospitalized," said Evan Walker, flood attorney.

The lawsuit alleges that the city's failure to maintain the storm drains resulted in the catastrophic flood that forced people onto their roofs, swimming in neck high water... with only the clothes on their backs.

Residents like Greg Montoya, whose property backs up to Chollas Creek, told FOX 5/KUSI the city knew about issue for decades and did nothing.

"All this could have been avoided had the city cleaned and maintained the stormwater system and installed the drains that they were supposed to install back in 2011."

He said that while the city has done some work since the flood, they are not doing enough.

The roughly 300 plaintiffs are asking for damages of $100 million. Flood attorney Evan Walker has sued the city in the past for the same issue.

FOX 5 reached out to the city for comment. They responded that they do not comment on pending cases.