SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — As Maria Elena tried to prepare for her class in English as a Second Language, a loud fan in the corner distracted her. It's there to dry out the residue from the recent storm.
"The alarms were loud," Maria Elena said. "It was impressive because all of my classmate's phones began to ring with alerts, asking us to shelter."
Last Monday, water poured into Maria Elena's classroom and other spaces inside the educational cultural complex. The complex is one of seven campuses in the San Diego College of Continuing Education also called SDCCE. One week later, the result is water-logged ceilings and damaged electrical systems.
"It was very shocking," Maria Elena said. "Even more so when you think about how this is a place that's considered safe. It's supposed to be a safe school for everyone.”
A majority of SDCCE campuses are in southeast San Diego. College President Dr. Tina King says they saw the most damage of all schools in the district after the storm. The Educational Cultural Complex had to temporarily close.
"The surrounding community which is their homes have also been flooded out, so while they would usually come to our college as a safe haven, that was not an option for a couple days," Dr. King said.
Dr. King estimates repairs will take around a month to complete. Leaders say it could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and they're hoping to get state funding to cover it. For now, the campuses are back open and Dr. King says the semester will start as planned on January 31st. Some classes, including Maria Elena's, will have to resume online.
