CHULA VISTA, Calif. (KGTV) — Antonio Monzon, the father of two young boys, has lived at the Comfort Inn in Chula Vista for months.
“We’ve all become family with both the other flood victims and the staff here,” he said.
With San Diego County’s hotel voucher program expiring, Monzon is returning to his property in Shelltown, nearly five months to the day since January’s devastating flood.
ABC 10News accompanied him on his journey home.
“Sometimes I just sit there and look at the whole thing and just get overwhelmed and depressed,” he said.
Monzon says the damage to his home and property is hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“Everything was floating,” he said.
Monzon showed 10News several cars he was rebuilding to sell. On Jan. 22, they were all under several feet of water.
“I don’t even know what to say…I’ve used the word devastating so much these last few months,” he said.
Because Monzon's home is still uninhabitable due to mold and water damage, he bought a used trailer and parked it in his backyard to at least have a roof over his head. He says he doesn’t have an estimate on how long he might be sleeping there.
"Like I said, I don’t have the money to fix it completely,” he said. “It’s going to take us years to not just rebuild physically, but to be able to surpass that trauma.”
If you’d like to help Monzon recover, you can donate to his GoFundMe here.
