About 5,000 San Diego-area residents were impacted by the historic downpour last January that led to dramatic flooding.
Extreme flooding events are becoming more common as the climate warms. But some residents impacted by the disaster insist there is another force that exacerbated the flooding: Decades of government neglect and indifference toward San Diego’s lower income neighborhoods.
Columbia Journalism Investigations in partnership with the Center for Public Integrity and Type Investigations spent a year digging into the growing need for climate relocation across the United States.
Little organized government assistance exists for preventing the loss of homes and lives before a disaster, the investigation revealed — and there is no comprehensive focus on helping people escape untenable situations.