San Diego residents deal with burglaries following January flood

SAN DIEGO, Calif. (NBC, KYMA/KECY) - It's been over two months since the January 22 floods devastated the lives of thousands of San Diegans.

Their flood damaged homes are unsafe to live in. Now, some of those flood victims are dealing with another safety concern.

The sound of rain brings back tough memories for Eddie Menjivar as his home was among the thousand that were damaged by the January 22 floods.

To make matters worse, last weekend his home and car were vandalized.

"I was the first victim of vandalism. They broke my house windows here and one of my vehicles, they busted out my windows too. Many neighbors had the same problem too. They went with weapons inside the houses to steal something."

Eddie Menjivar, flood victim

A ghost town

He's not the only flood victim dealing with this issue. Ana Ramirez's home was targeted by burglars earlier this month.

"We've also had burglaries. We've had people break into our home and steal these big machines. And you know what? If we go back there and then something goes wrong, you know, they break in and somebody gets hurt."

Ana Ramirez, flood victim

Menjivar says the neighborhood turns into a ghost town after construction workers leave. He thinks burglars take advantage of the night hours to break-into the vacant homes.

After the vandalism incident he experienced, Menjivar decided to stay that night in his home and says he noticed people in his neighborhood who weren't his neighbors.

"This is the criminal guys that are jumping up in the properties," Menjivar expressed.