Homeless Evicted By San Diego Police Just as Major El Niño Storm Approaches

You have to wonder what they were thinking in city hall. On Monday morning the police department conducted a sweep of sidewalk homeless encampments as a major winter storm bore down on San Diego.

A severe thunderstorm warning for the entire San Diego County coastline was issued as the second in a series of El Niño storms swept through the region. The promise of below-normal temperatures combined with driving rain and gusty winds meant being outside was going to be a miserable experience.

It’s not like this weather forecast was any secret. None-the-less, in the hours leading up to the first round of torrential rail and hail, the San Diego Police Department were busy confiscating tarps, tents and other makeshift shelters erected by homeless people on the periphery of downtown.

The impending bad weather apparently wasn’t seen as an obstacle to enforcing bright green notices posted last week warning of “Cleanup and Property Removal.” The problem is/was that there was no place else for the humans targeted by this purge to go.

Activist/SDFP Columnist Jeeni Criscenzo posted the following:

This morning, just before the torrential rain and hail hit downtown, the San Diego Police Department, under the direction of Mayor Falconer, removed the tarps and tents and whatever pathetic coverings human beings had put together to say out of the rain. What kind of heartless animals would order this and what spineless cruel snakes would carry out these orders? There is nothing they can say that will justify this outrage. And if we, the citizens of San Diego let this pass, we are as guilty as they are.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available. Photos courtesy of Homeless News San Diego.