Home Care In Thermal, CA

By Brittny Mejia,

Cari Spencer , Joe Mozingo, Jeong Park

THERMAL, Calif. —

As the rain began to pour down Sunday afternoon, Rafael Nuñez got the uneasy feeling he was unprepared.

He stepped outside to see rivers running down both sides of his rural road in Thermal, a farming community in the Coachella Valley. He pulled a piece of sheet metal from his storage shed to divert the water away from his mobile home, and propped it up with bags of fertilizer.

But his makeshift levee was feeble, the little rivers were growing, and the storm was expected to get much worse.

His neighbor, Maria Elena Zaragoza, used a blue dust pan to bail water collecting in front of her home, and muttered that sandbags would have helped. It wasn’t that she had not heard about Hurricane Hilary.

“We didn’t listen,” she said. “We didn’t think it was true.”

Like many Californians, they were quickly learning that the slow tempo of a tropical storm’s approach did not diminish how quickly it could become dangerous. In a place where natural disasters usually hit with little or no warning, many here grew complacent watching this unfamiliar blob on a map wobble north for five days.

But time was up.

As night approached Sunday, the Coachella Valley faced a particularly dire threat of flooding, with its nearly flat floor draining two 10,000-foot-plus mountain ranges as it slowly descends below sea level to the Salton Sea. While wealthier communities like Palm Springs and La Quinta hug the mountains, poor farming communities such as Mecca and Thermal lie at the low center, with many people living in dilapidated housing and trailer parks at risk of being swept away.

At midday, with sporadic rain, many residents and visitors interviewed were somewhat blase about the danger. Others were anxious but by no means panicked, and some were a little excited about experiencing the strange tropical weather.

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As Nuñez fashioned his sheet metal barrier, Homero Francisco, 37, splashed in the water in a pair of blue slides.

“I’m enjoying the rain,” he said, beaming. He didn’t care that a foot of water had accumulated outside his mobile home, making it impossible to leave in a car. “Es una chulada la agua.” It’s a beautiful thing the water.

In Indio, Joseph Cereros, 15, and his older brother had slogged around all morning Saturday looking for sandbags. Home Depot was out, as was store after store. After five hours of looking, the boys found empty bags and a sand pile at City Hall, and started shoveling.

Now the air was heavy with moisture but the rain was light, and Cereros had his doubts about his grandmother’s concern of a hurricane coming to flood the family patio.

But everything felt a bit upside down: A hurricane was going to deluge the desert, which was suddenly short on sand.

By noon, with no downpours yet, Cereros was perturbed.

“We got 30 bags of sand and no rain has come,” he huffed. “It’s annoying.”

California

Aug. 20, 2023

He didn’t know what people on the Atlantic and the Gulf coasts know: The wait is long. People hover over their screens watching the dreaded “cone of uncertainty” on the National Hurricane map day after day. The air gets thick. The sky darkens. A light rain comes with a hot salty wind. The storm shutters start rattling. Then it all goes haywire.

At the Fuente de Agua Viva in Mecca, 50 people gathered for the 11 a.m. Sunday service. A warm breeze rustled through the dead palm trees.

“How many are scared because of the hurricane?” Pedro Miranda, the minister asked, as he held up his arm for a show of hands. No one raised theirs.

The church had planned to camp Saturday night in the mountains and do the Sunday service there, but the weather forecast kept them at home.

“We’re going to thank God, because he is good,” Miranda said. “Our desert needs water.”

At a truck stop on Interstate 10, around Whitewater, Jose Gamero Lopez, 37, hustled back to his red truck, in a T-shirt, shorts and slides, after stopping for a restroom break as a light drizzle fell.

The Rialto resident was heading to Long Beach from Houston. His company sent a notice about the hurricane, but he hasn’t worried about the rain, because he drove for six years in El Salvador, where he lived through a hurricane and lots of rain.

He’s actually happy there will be more water for the trees.

“What surprised me is that there’s a hurricane in summer,” he said. “I couldn’t believe it!”

Jeff Moore and his wife, Laura, were killing time at the truck stop before they had to pick up a load of Nestle water in Cabazon. From there, they planned to head to Casa Grande, Ariz.

California

Aug. 20, 2023

The couple, who were driving from Las Vegas, said they hadn’t heard about the hurricane.

“We just drive, we don’t listen too much to the weather,” he said.

The pair had driven in worse weather, his wife chimed in, at times when you couldn’t make out the lines on the road. She recalled a tornado that hit while they passed through New Mexico. “I just drove,” she said.

She isn’t worried about the hurricane.

“God will take me when he wants me,” she said.

Outside of Leon’s Meat Market in Mecca, Hector Vasquez, 55, paid $2 to fill up jugs of water so his six grandkids would have something to drink during the storm. He had gone to Costco on Saturday but couldn’t find a parking spot and soon gave up.

Vasquez, who lives in a mobile home in the unincorporated community, is worried about a heavy rain because of the lack of drainage. Already on Saturday he’d had to use a broom to sweep water away from the home that’s shared by seven.

Vazquez, who is originally from Guanajuato, Mexico, has been accustomed to dry weather — both there and here in the desert.

“This is going to be the most difficult day,” he said, as he looked up at a sky threatening rain. “It’s about to start.”

He cited power poles that went down in Thermal and at least brieflyknocked out power for residents there. The family has purchased battery-powered lamps from Home Depot in case the power goes out, so the children won’t be scared. The youngest one is a year old. “We have to be prepared so we can see at night,” he said.

As for how his family would spend the day? “Encerrados.” Locked in.

Juana Carlos, 57, exited the market carrying a carton of 20 large eggs. She didn’t buy much that day, but her daughters had already bought a generator Friday to prepare.

She’s lived here since 2005 and there have been storms in the past, but nothing like what’s been warned this time.

“I’m a little worried,” said Carlos, who recently finished working in the grape harvest.

Eddie Leon, who has run the market for 20 years, cashed farmworkers’ checks from local growers and rang them up for Bud Lights, energy drinks, salsa verde and pan dulce.

“Todo bien?” a customer asked.

“Todo bien,” Leon replied automatically, then paused. “I think so.”

In an otherwise warming planet, new research shows that the ocean off California’s Central Coast may be a thermal refuge for marine wildlife.

Cal Poly associate professor Ryan Walter, who teaches physics, and fourth-year physics student Michael Dalsin analyzed temperature data gathered from 1978 through 2020 at a site just north of Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant.

They found that while other areas of the world see sharp rises in ocean temperatures and more frequent and more intense heatwaves, the Central Coast hasn’t seen such intense trends.

The region still experiences marine heatwaves and cold spells brought on by factors such as the ocean-wide climactic patterns of El Niño and La Niña, but cold current upwelling brought on by strong local winds helps maintain the marine ecosystem along the Central Coast, according to a study by Walter and Dalsin published on July 31.

“This research showing the Central Coast could be a thermal refuge is incredibly important,” said Crow White, an associate professor of biology at Cal Poly. “Without a cooler water refuge, that means species like the Dungeness crab would no longer be able to exist along our coast.”

The study also found that marine heatwaves and cold spells along California’s coast are partially predictable — providing a mechanism for better managing the ocean’s resources.

“We believe that management of our marine resources, our ecological resources, our fisheries ... that should be informed by these forecasts of these extreme events,” Dalsin said. “If you can predict that there’s going to be a very disruptive heatwave or cold spell in the next season, it seems sensible that you should change your management policies.”

Marine heatwaves and cold spells have triggered harmful algal blooms and kelp die-offs, which in turn have caused entire ecosystems to near collapse as food chains hang in the balance.

But the Central Coast’s ecosystems are more adapted to temporary variability in ocean temperatures because of the region’s upwelling, said Ben Ruttenberg, director of Cal Poly’s Center for Coastal Marine Sciences.

“When a heatwave comes along, the system will undeniably be disrupted,” he said. “But as long as you have the predators and their food in place, then it can probably recover.”

The upwelling of cold ocean currents off California’s coast is mainly caused by strong winds that push warm water off the surface and allows cold water to flow upwards toward the surface.

The colder water carries nutrients up from the ocean’s depths and therefore provides a great source of food for many marine animals such as phytoplankton, fish and whales.

Typically, the strongest upwelling happens during the spring and summertime. It’s a phenomenon unique to the Pacific Ocean area to about 60 to 100 miles from California’s coastline.

Along the East Coast of the United States, no such upwelling occurs and researchers there have seen ocean water temperatures soar year over year as the global climate changes.

In late July, a buoy in southern Florida measured water temperatures at 101.1 degrees Fahrenheit — roughly the ideal temperature of a hot tub.

The hot water resulted in the worst coral bleaching in the Florida Keys’ history and could mean hurricane season in the Atlantic Ocean could be far worse than what was historically normal.

Marine heatwaves could occur along California’s coast this year as scientists predict El Niño conditions to persist through February.

El Niño is defined as warmer ocean temperatures that build up along the equatorial region of the Pacific Ocean. It can cause wet and warm winters on land and marine heatwaves.

While the current El Niño’s warm waters haven’t yet reached California’s coast, Walter and Dalsin noted that their research showed that the state’s coastal waters have become unusually warm in the winter during previous El Niño years.

“We have this early alert system to say, ‘there might be a greater likelihood for thermal stress in different organisms that scientists and managers can watch out for,’ ” Walter said.

After the marine heatwave events, however, California’s coastal waters typically return to about the same baseline temperatures.

This is what provides the area its status as a “thermal refuge” from global climate change, Walter said.

“In California, we do still have warm years and we do still have cold years,” Walter said. “But we don’t have the steep rising of ocean temperatures that you might expect over on the East Coast or elsewhere.”

This story was originally published August 22, 2023, 8:00 AM.

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Mackenzie Shuman primarily writes about SLO County education and the environment for The Tribune. She’s originally from Monument, Colorado, and graduated from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication in May 2020. When not writing, Mackenzie spends time outside hiking and rock climbing.

Dangerously hot temperatures are broiling California this weekend as a “heat dome” continues to bake the American West, increasing the risk of heat-related health issues and wildfires.

On Saturday most of the state will be under an excessive heat warning or heat advisory, which will continue in many regions through next week. In Southern California, temperatures Saturday are expected to reach 106 and 108 degrees in the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys, respectively, while the Antelope Valley could see a high of 115.

Blistering triple-digit temperatures are forecast across the state. In Death Valley, temperatures are expected to hit nearly 130 degrees Saturday, approaching some of the Badwater Basin’s most extreme records, forecasters said. Palm Springs is expected to reach 120, Redding could rise to 113 and Fresno in California’s Central Valley should peak at 109.

“It’s going to get just very, very hot,” said Elizabeth Adams, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service’s San Diego office. She said multiple areas in Southern California, especially in the Coachella Valley, Inland Empire and San Diego County deserts, won’t see much cooling even in the evenings, with some overnight temperatures remaining in the 80s and 90s.

“That’s going to prevent any relief from that heat, so it’s going to exacerbate how hot it feels out,” Adams said.

June 30, 2023

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That kind of extreme heat — which is also projected in areas north through the upper Sacramento Valley — is a concern for heat-related illnesses, such as heat stroke and heat exhaustion, and has become increasingly deadly in recent years.

“All of us are at risk — some of us are at higher risk,” Dr. Tomás Aragón, director of the California Department of Public Health and the state public health officer, said Friday. While he said certain vulnerable groups — including the very old, very young, chronically ill or those without access to air conditioning — are most at risk for these heat-related health issues, he noted that last year’s Labor Day heat wave led to more excess deaths among the working-age population.

“It’s important to recognize it’s not just the group you would think about,” Aragón said. He encouraged Californians to take extra steps to stay safe over the next few days, including making a plan to stay cool, checking on neighbors and loved ones, finding cool places and recognizing the symptoms of heat-related illnesses. The state recently launched a new “heat ready” campaign, which provides resources to respond to extreme heat, including a list of cooling centers by location.

In Sacramento, officials took the precautionary step of suspending horse racing at the California State Fair’s opening weekend, though other activities will continue.

“Our decision to suspend horse racing activities was guided by our unwavering commitment to animal safety,” said Tom Martinez, CEO of Cal Expo and State Fair. “With the current heat wave, their safety and well-being come first.”

The extreme temperatures also have fire officials worried about the increased risk of wildfires. The danger is compounded by exceptionally lush vegetation that covers the state as a result of this winter’s heavy rains.

“With these very hot temps, generally, we’re going to see lower dew points, which can lead to fire concerns,” Adams said. She said there isn’t an expectation for much wind, which can increase the potential for fires, but “with it being so hot and dry, that risk is always going to be there.”

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July 12, 2023

A ridge of high pressure centered over the Western U.S. is causing the hot weather, which began Wednesday in Southern California. The particularly stagnant warm air mass is now centered over California, Adams said, trapping heat near the surface — known as a “heat dome.”

“It’s leading to very sunny skies and allowing the temps to really skyrocket,” Adams said.

It’s unclear exactly how long the extreme temperatures will last, but the above-average heat is expected to remain across the region through at least early next week, said Mike Wofford, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard.

“We’re looking at temperatures 10 degrees above normal [in some inland areas],” Wofford said. “Based on our projections it will go on for the next 10 days or so.”

Southern Californians looking to beat the heat are expected to flock to area beaches, where temperatures along the coast will range from mid-70s to low 80s on Saturday, forecasters said. Downtown Los Angeles is expected to see highs in the mid-80s, forecasters said.

California

July 13, 2023

Meanwhile, as temperatures rise across the region, air quality is expected to drop, with a smog/ozone advisory already in effect through Tuesday for much of inland Southern California and the Coachella Valley, according to the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

Some of the worst air quality is expected in the Inland Empire. Ozone levels are expected to reach very unhealthy levels in the Lake Arrowhead area and the San Bernardino Valley, officials said.

Although a major heat wave last summer almost pushed the state’s power grid to the brink, officials for the California Independent System Operator, which runs the state’s power grid, said that isn’t expected to be an issue over the next few days.

“We’re closely monitoring the hot weather through the weekend,” grid officials said in a statement Thursday. “No energy supply shortages are anticipated and no Flex Alerts or emergency declarations are planned at this time.”

In the 1980s and 1990s, there was no better way to make money in the Coachella Valley than being part of the golf course construction industry.

From course designers to bulldozer drivers, everyone involved with golf course construction was constantly busy in the desert. In the 1980s alone, 33 courses were built in the Coachella Valley, or an average of one every 100 days for an entire decade. That pace slowed in the 1990s and into the 2000s as demand for golf declined across the country. The last 18-hole golf course to open in the desert was in 2008, when Fantasy Springs Resort in Indio unveiled its Eagle Falls Golf Club designed by Clive Clark.

That’s what makes news of a potential new golf course being planned for the Thermal area so interesting. While what is being proposed is a highly exclusive club that won’t be pushing to fill tee times each day, it’s still a new golf course in a community that embraces the game.

Even if golf is booming because of the pandemic — rounds of golf were up by double digits by percent in 2020 despite the pandemic and are expected to be up a bit this year — some will question if a new golf course is really needed in the desert now. But this project, with high-profile music producer Irving Azoff as a main backer, won’t be just a pitch-and-putt course designed to be a revenue source for the owners.

More:Developers, Azoff eyeing private golf course in Thermal, despite some community pushback

More:Desert golf in 2021: No fans, new winners and a tournament on the move made for strange year

Instead, the new private course could join a long list of ultra-exclusive clubs that have their own niche in the desert. With a membership proposed at just 50, and a daily maximum of just 25 people playing the course on any given day, the new course would fit right in with the luxury courses in the area.

The desert features some golf courses that put even the highest-end private courses in the area to shame when it comes to access. Sunnylands in Rancho Mirage is a very private course built by Walter Annenberg and open by invitation to his friends, who were either pro golfers or presidents and international political figures. That course, a New Year’s Eve tradition for Ronald Reagan when he was president, is still one of the toughest tee times in the desert.

And there is Porcupine Creek, the backyard course in Rancho Mirage built by Tim Blixseth, a course that was once named one of the 20 best in the state despite having maybe two foursomes a day on the property. Larry Ellison, one of the richest men in the world, has owned that course and the surrounding property since 2011, opening it for play to his tennis friends like Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Ellison, who owns the Indian Wells Tennis Garden and the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament as well, is currently turning Porcupine Creek into a luxury spa and hideaway offering “six-star, exclusive guest experience."

The proposed Thermal course would have its own character, of course. Take, for instance, the location, at the corner of Van Buren Street and 70th Avenue in Thermal. That’s practically an hour’s drive from downtown Palm Springs and well south and east of any existing course. If you are looking for seclusion, a golf course on a 300-acre farm known for mango and citrus trees is a pretty good start.

Then there is the man who will design the course, Gil Hanse. Hanse made news for casual golfers when he beat out much bigger names like Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Greg Norman for the right to design the Olympic golf course in Rio de Janeiro for 2016. That was a big splash as golf was returning to the Olympics for the first time in more than a century. Hanse has done other original projects like the South Course at Los Angeles Country Club as well as renovating or restoring some of the most famous courses in the country including names like Oakmont, Pinehurst, The Country Club and the North Course at Los Angeles Country Club, which will host the 2023 U.S. Open. An original Hanse design would be a pleasant addition to the desert golf scene.

Azoff, who is also a member at Madison Club in La Quinta where people with last names like Mickelson and Kardashian have homes, is surrounded in this project by people whose names might not be known but who know how to get projects done. The fact that the Riverside County Planning Director’s meeting this week already granted approval for the project shows that. So do the pledges of jobs and money for the area from the developers. There will be some pushback against the project, as there is against any project, but this golf course appears well on its way to fruition.

Golf in the Coachella Valley comes in a variety of packages, from nine-hole mobile home park courses to resort hotel layouts to the ultra-exclusive private facilities. The proposed Thermal course, if built, will just add to that palette.

Larry Bohannan is The Desert Sun golf writer, he can be reached at [email protected] or (760) 778-4633. Follow him on Facebook or on Twitter at @larry_Bohannan. Support local journalism. Subscribe to The Desert Sun.

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, Calif. — A Coachella Valley woman, who asked not to be identified, is fighting to help a remote mobile home park in Thermal that has struggled for years with water contamination.

The woman, who wishes to be identified only as Maria, said she first visited the Oasis Mobile Home Park last year because she works for a local nonprofit doing outreach in the community and assisting with resources.

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"I first came to Oasis to help with resources to help the kids get tutoring, to help with any kind of internet connection," Maria said.

But what Maria said she found at the mobile home park was a community of families living in fear and conditions that seemed third-world to her.

Maria learned that Oasis had been plagued for years with ongoing water contamination and cesspools of sewage.

Many of the residents she met had pleaded with the landlord to be relocated.

"I was absolutely disgusted. I was absolutely disgusted and embarrassed," Maria said.

Maria shared a video with Spectrum News that she said a resident sent her to show the water coming out of a faucet. The water appears clear at first and then quickly turned a murky yellow. She said the resident also wanted to remain anonymous.

In fact, as Maria showed Spectrum News around the park, no resident was willing to show their face on camera out of fear.

"They're afraid of retaliation. It has happened before where the landlord called immigration. He would hike the rent, cut their power, their food would spoil," Maria said.

When Spectrum News asked some residents to turn on hoses or their faucets, the water appeared to run clear.

One mother spoke outside her home and asked to remain anonymous. Maria served as a translator and said the woman was an immigrant from Mexico who works as a field worker picking food.

"She said they have to take fast showers, they have to be under five minutes," Maria said. "She said the water causes health issues. She said hair falls out and stomach aches."

We asked the mother what the hardest part about this ongoing issue has been. Again, Maria translated:

"She said the thing is that I don't have anywhere else to go. It's not like I can move, it makes me sad, but at the same time, it makes me mad."

The history of the park makes Maria furious.

Arsenic can occur naturally in groundwater, but back in 2019, the Environmental Protection Agency found it in the drinking water at Oasis, measuring at levels 10 times higher than what is considered safe.

The agency said the issue was then resolved in early 2020, only to re-emerge later in the year.

It prompted a lawsuit on behalf of more than a dozen residents filed by Fresno-based attorney Michael Claiborne. The filing alleges that the landlords, who own and operate the park on Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians tribal land, willfully disregarded the dangers and exposed the residents to the contamination.

"It doesn't feel like our country. The landlord would never give his kids the same drinking water that he's forcing upon the residents," Maria said.

The families receive water from the landlord in gallon jugs, but they're worried about washing their clothes, showering and even cooking.

"They don't cook with it. They don't drink with it. They don't cook with it," Maria said.

Another mother living at the park shared through Maria that she is scared for her children.

Spectrum News called and emailed the Torres Martinez tribe to ask about the water, but we were told by phone the tribe has no comment.

The EPA said it has been monitoring the issue and sent the following statement:

"We are collaborating with federal, state, tribal, county agencies, and local stakeholders to ensure alternative water is available, while the drinking water system continues to be out of compliance with EPA emergency orders and the federal drinking water standards for arsenic. EPA also conducts virtual monthly meetings with Oasis Mobile Home Park residents to address ongoing drinking water concerns." State lawmakers are also working to provide financial relief to the residents and are calling the issue a public health crisis.

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Assemblyman Eduardo Garcia secured $30 million from the State Assembly budget, which will be used to offer housing vouchers, among other resources.

For her part, Maria is still going to the park several times a month to help however she can.

She said the community is hoping for relief as soon as possible.

"They're searching for something better for their kids. But imagine being put between a rock and a hard place," Maria said, adding a plea to the landlord and officials. "Either speed up the process or come up with a temporary resolution or both. It's the humane thing to do."