SAN DIEGO — A southeast San Diego tow truck company says it’s on the hook for roughly $300k in damages from the Jan. 22 flood and wants the city to reimburse them.
“If you don’t have space you can’t store cars that is closing down the company,” said Frank Barka, Coastal Pride Towing owner.
The owner shared video recorded by Mike Barka, the owner’s brother, during the historic storm on Jan. 22. He said people were screaming for help.
Mike Barka says he climbed to the roof of the Logan Heights tow yard where water was rushing down the hill and overflowing from the Chollas Creek storm channel that 100 yards away from the tow company.
“The water kept coming and coming and coming,” said Mike Barka.
His brother, Frank Barka, owns Coastal Pride Towing and was home recovering from an injury during the storm. When he got to his shop he couldn’t believe the damage.
More than 35 cars and trucks, along with 15 motorcycles were damaged.
"The smell is really bad when you open the door," said Barka. "I don’t want to expose it to my team and you can smell it."
The owners never picked the cars up since they were damaged, Barka said. This normally would mean the cars would be able to be sold at auction. But the damage doesn't make for a compelling buy. They have to go to a junk yard now.
"We have to junk it because we can’t sell it," said Barka.
The owner says he’s waiting to hear from the city before junking the cars which has left him with nearly no room to store additional impounded cars.
"Space is money," said Barka.
Barka calculated the loss in storage fees alone to be more than $300,000.
“That’s why I hired an attorney because no one listened to us,” said Barka.
The owner says he filed a claim against the City of San Diego but got no response.
Last Friday, his attorney filed a lawsuit against the city for failure to clear the channel after the risks were publicly documented.
“The pain you heard in Mike’s voice and anguish in the videos I sent is pain that started on January 22 and continues every single day," said Brant Noziska, attorney. “This loss was preventable and the failure to do so is inexcusable.”
Barka says he’s a small business owner and is tired of being ignored.
“I need something from the city so I can resolve this,” added Barka.
The city responded to our request for comment and says it does not comment on pending litigation.
It has 30 days to respond to the lawsuit.
Frank Barka says he filed for a loan through the Small Business Administration and still has not received the money.
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