Heat wave strains AC in San Diego schools
Good Morning, I’m Debbie Cruz….it’s Monday, September 9th.
Some local schools are struggling to keep students cool during the heat wave.More on that next. But first... let’s do the headlines….
San Diego is not done with the recent stretch of hot weather.
The National Weather Service issued excessive-heat warnings for the inland valleys of the county that last through 8 p-m tonight.
Those communities include El Cajon, Escondido, La Mesa, Poway, San Marcos and Santee.
High temperatures are expected to reach triple digits in some areas.
Forecasters say areas closer to the coast should top out in the 80s and 90s.
Former President Donald Trump’s running mate J-D Vance wrapped up a weekend of campaign events in Southern California.
That included a trip to the U-S Mexico border in San Diego on Friday.
The republican vice-presidential nominee advocated for Trump’s immigration policies. Other weekend stops for Vance included a fundraiser Sunday in Los Angeles.
Vance, who is also a U-S Senator from Ohio, is married to Usha Vance, who was raised in San Diego.
After a month-long break, the San Diego City Council is back in session.
Today’s agenda items include emergency declarations relating to homelessness in the city.
They will also consider leasing office space downtown for the Development Services Department.
Tomorrow, the city council will be briefed and hold a discussion on the San Diego Police Department’s overtime spending.
From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now.Stay with me for more of the local news you need.
Many of San Diego's youngest students have been sweltering in overheated classrooms during the ongoing heatwave.
A San Diego Unified spokesperson says the school district’s malfunctioning air conditioning systems are to blame.
Health reporter Heidi de Marco says this lack of cooling not only disrupts learning, but poses serious health risks.
Without proper cooling, classrooms become unbearably hot. The risk extends beyond discomfort for children.
“And the reason why is that just because their bodies are littler. They're more just the physiology of a child that they breathe more rapidly. Usually they're metabolically more active. So they tend to be more at risk for heat issues.”
Dr. Vi Nguyen is a pediatrician with Kaiser. She says prolonged exposure to high temperatures can lead to serious health complications, including heat stroke.
“It can be anywhere from just plain heat exhaustion to actually triggering asthma attacks.”
She says kids should stay hydrated and wear light clothing, a hat and sunscreen.
A San Diego Unified spokesperson says the district is prioritizing repairs based on student needs, location, and air access.
Heidi de Marco, KPBS News.
Tomorrow (Tuesday) the San Diego County Board of Supervisors will take up a motion to pause the creation of any new battery energy storage locations.
Sci-tech reporter Thomas Fudge says this follows another fire at one of those operations.
The battery storage building in Escondido is operated by SDG&E.
On Thursday, one of its 24 storage units caught fire, requiring neighborhood evacuations.
Lithium ion battery storage is an important way to store energy from clean renewable resources, like solar.
But when the batteries catch fire, they are hard to put out and they release toxic, flammable gasses.
Many communities oppose the creation of these facilities and the Escondido City council has voted to oppose them.
The county could delay the creation of all storage facilities.
Or it could just require new facilities to use updated safety guidelines.
Without energy from the batteries, the county would have a more difficult time meeting its clean energy goals.
Thomas Fudge, KPBS News.
A group of navy chiefs went to extraordinary lengths to install and manage a secret wifi network aboard a San Diego-based warship.
Military reporter Andrew Dyer has more about what happened and the fallout.
Seventeen chiefs on the littoral combat ship USS Manchester pitched in for the almost $3,000 starlink satellite and $1,000 a month internet bill during a deployment last year.
That's according to a navy investigation first obtained this week by navy times.
Clayton Swope is with the center for strategic and international studies. He says unsecured communications are a problem because they can reveal a ship’s location.
“What comes to mind is the russians have talked about a radar capability that they're developing that could detect and locate starlink terminals.”
Investigators say the ship’s command senior chief Grisel Morrero was the quote “ringleader” of the scheme. rumors of the chiefs-only network persisted. but when the ship’s captain asked her, she repeatedly denied the network existed.
Four months into the deployment a civilian contractor in Guam found the dish.
All but two chiefs on board were involved. most faced administrative punishment. Morrero pleaded guilty at a special court-martial to her role in the scheme and attempted cover-up.
According to the investigation, the dish didn’t compromise the ship or its operations.
Andrew Dyer, kpbs news.
Researchers at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography are seeing promising results in their quest to predict bluff collapses before they happen.
A local family that lost loved ones in a 2019 bluff failure is grateful for the news.
“Because I think this could be just a really valuable step in getting, making the bluffs a lot safer down there."
That story is coming up.
Researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego are making strides toward predicting bluff collapses before they happen.
Investigative reporter Scott Rodd says the ultimate goal is to create an early warning system that saves lives.
Patrick Davis and his late wife Julie Davis moved to Encinitas more than 40 years ago.
The coastal town was an idyllic place to start a family.
“We raised four children and grew up in this beautiful Encinitas community. And couldn't have been happier. We had a wonderful life here.”
In August of 2019, friends and family gathered at nearby Grandview Beach for a celebration. Davis’s sister-in-law, Elizabeth Charles, had just completed breast cancer treatment.
He says the lifeguard on duty suggested they sit just north of the lifeguard tower.
“It was high tide at the time so we were probably only 10 feet away from the cliff and there was maybe another 10 feet at the most in front of us where the waves were breaking.”
The kids paddled out on their surfboards. People on the beach ate sandwiches and relaxed in the sun.
“So we just sat there and we were just enjoying ourselves. And next thing we knew, the cliff let loose. … And then it was just pure bedlam after that.”
[...fade in 9-1-1 call…]
“Fire department emergency” / “Please hurry, Grandview Beach, 1700 Neptune Avenue, there’s a landslide and there are people underneath. Grandview, right next to the lifeguard station. [ fade down”]
A section of the bluff had collapsed…sending huge rocks and debris onto the beach below.
Several people were pinned under the crushing weight of the fallen boulders.
[...fade in 9-1-1 call…]
“Oh my God. There might be a death. / “What happened?” / “I don’t know. I don’t know…” [fade down]
Emergency responders rushed to the scene. But some of the injuries were too severe.
Davis lost his wife, his sister-in-law, and his daughter, Annie.
“We've, you know, we’ve never been the same family since.”
After 5 years, Davis is able to talk about his wife Julie.
“But I can't talk about my daughter. You know, losing a child is just one of the worst things any parent could ever go through. So that's that's been a real difficult thing. So if you want me to get emotional, just start talking about Annie.”
Davis no longer spends time on the beach at Grandview…but he often walks down the long staircase to see where people are sitting.
“And almost every time I've gone down to the beach, I see people sitting right against the bluffs. I remind the lifeguards that they're — part of their job is to keep people away from the bluffs, they then respond and run down and tell people how dangerous it is.”
But it shouldn’t be on the shoulders of one grieving man to keep beachgoers safe.
Fortunately, state lawmakers and local researchers are digging into the problem. The ultimate hope is to develop an early warning system that saves lives along the coast.
Scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography are a few years into their research…and the early results are promising.
Mark Zumberge is a research geophysicist at Scripps.
“We've had three cases where it was pretty clear something was going to happen.”
Each time, researchers accurately predicted a bluff collapse at a specific location — sometimes more than a day in advance.
To gather data, they installed sensors called “tiltmeters” along the bluffs in Del Mar and Encinitas.
Zumberge says the device is like a very sophisticated leveling tool.
“So if you could set out a carpenter's level and very precisely keep track of the position of that bubble, you would be able to tell if the land is tilting.”
Soon, the researchers will install custom sensors that can measure land movement down to the diameter of an atom.
Scripps researcher Adam Young says early warning systems do exist for inland landslides.
“But something specific for the coastline, which involves other processes like waves and tides and that's sort of thing, I'm not aware of anything like that.”
He’s optimistic that a warning system along coast is feasible.
“What we're seeing so far is quite promising that we will be able to use these signals in the future to develop a system.”
These early results are remarkable. But the scientists caution there’s a lot that remains unknown.
And even if a warning system can be developed…it’ll likely take years to roll out and require action from state lawmakers.
Assemblywoman Tasha Boerner represents the coastal areas of Del Mar and Encinitas. She authored the legislation that kickstarted the research.
“My hope would be by 2030, the pilot would be going across California in these probably selected locations that are most acutely experiencing bluff collapses.”
By 2035, Boerner believes the system could be rolled out up and down the west coast.
News about the progress at Scripps left Patrick Davis feeling encouraged.
“Because I think this could be just a really valuable step in getting, making the bluffs a lot safer down there."
Davis’s family has filed a lawsuit against the state, the city of Encinitas and a local homeowners association. In addition to seeking financial damages, they’re asking for policy changes to improve safety along the coast.
Scott Rodd, KPBS News.
Storms and fires have taken a toll on San Diego's iconic piers this year, with closures from P-B to Oceanside.
But South Bay reporter Kori Suzuki says San Diego still has one pier standing.
The Imperial Beach Pier has been the only ocean pier in the county to make it through the summer without a major closure. As of this week, it’s fully open to the public and has been bustling with visitors.
“It's still the same old pier man. It's the same pier.”
Fernando Marquez was one of them. He had taken the bus up from Tijuana to visit for the first time in months. He still remembers boogie boarding around the pier and setting up campfires on the sand.
“I just came to see the beach and walk down the pier and just to reminisce. I was hoping that it wouldn't be contaminated so I could jump in the water because I haven't been in the ocean for years, but I'll wait till next time.”
Like Marquez points out, the year hasn’t been without challenges. The cross-border sewage crisis has gotten worse, increasing worries about swimmers getting sick and hurting local businesses. The city has also seen its share of fierce storms and early signs of climate-driven sea level rise.
Still, through it all, the IB Pier is still standing.
In Imperial Beach, Kori Suzuki, KPBS News.
That’s it for the podcast today. As always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org. I’m Debbie Cruz. Thanks for listening and have a great day.
