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San Diego businesses hit hard by flood damage during storm

The three businesses that said damages are already estimated to be $100,000 and they all say it's likely to continue to pile up.

SAN DIEGO — Many San Diego County businesses are accessing the damage from this week's storm and are working around the clock to reopen.

Some are dealing with wet floors, damaged walls, and inventory losses. 

“It’s terrifying, the buildings filled up with water in a matter of minutes," said Natalie Gill, founder and co-owner of Native Poppy.

Businesses owners and employees are working overtime to save what they can. 

The flower shop's warehouse in Mission Valley was flooded on Monday, with more than three feet of water inside. Most of the inventory was damaged, along with two delivery vans one of which caught fire. 

“We’re ten days away from getting our valentines day flower order in to be able to do our biggest holiday of the year. We lost so much of our merchandise, and our supplies," said Gill.

For Gill, it’s one loss after another. 

“Our South Park store actually a year and a half ago was crashed into by car and we were closed for 6 months," said the small business owner. 

She is one of the many business owners who don’t have flood insurance and says her team is doing what they can to keep business afloat.

Over in the Midway District, a similar scene can be found at Scandia Plaza, where every single business was flooded.

“Lack of maintenance leads to these kinds of problems," said Ray Gaines, owner of Stereo Unlimited. It was a significant amount of water in a short period."

“We’ve never seen anything – we’ve been here 42 years, we’ve never had an event like this before," said Matt Thomas, CEO of Pet Kingdom.

Thomas and his employees worked throughout the day Wednesday trying to clean up as much as they could after several inches of water rushed inside the store. 

“It’s a city management issue, it’s a California management issue," he said.

Thomas says one of the drains in the parking lot hasn’t worked in years. The amount of water was too much for the working drain to process. 

"It was just the perfect storm I guess you could say," he added.

Next door, the owner of Stereo Unlimited says he believes the City of San Diego failed to maintain critical infrastructure. 

“If the infrastructure exists but it’s not being maintained it clearly falls on the shoulders of those people," said Gaines.

Both men say despite having flood insurance, they're being denied coverage because of what's known as an 'Act of God' clause, which is often used by insurance companies. These clauses typically limit or remove liability for injuries, damages, and losses caused by acts of God.

“From what they told me if I had a pipe or leaking ceiling I would’ve been covered, everything would have but the fact that it came from rain water and it’s like a city-wide issue they’re not covering it," said Thomas.

The damage all three businesses suffered is already estimated to be near $100,000. And all three say it's likely costs will continue to pile up.

   

WATCH RELATED: Jamacha Road neighbors say they need help after severe flood damage

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