The same storm that dumped nearly two inches of rain on West Hollywood on Monday also swamped businesses on Melrose Avenue in the Fairfax District, just blocks from the WeHo border. And for shop owners along that stretch of Melrose near Martel Avenue, it wasn’t a surprise. It was a frustrating, business crushing repeat.
Floodwater rose fast Monday morning as the first of three storms hammered LA with rainfall rates topping an inch an hour in some spots. Several storefronts filled with water within minutes. A clothing and shoe retailer, The Poser, reported $600 pairs of shoes ruined. A liquor store took on water. Another business called New Rock was spotted hauling damaged merchandise onto the sidewalk and sweeping water out the front door. When I drove by the corner of Martel and Melrose I was shocked by how deep the water was.
The frustration from business owners wasn’t directed at the rain. It was directed at the city of LA.
LA Sanitation and Environment had positioned pump trucks along the block ahead of the storm, which gave merchants some hope that this time would be different. It wasn’t. According to CBS LA, no crew members were on hand to operate the equipment or open the utility holes that allow stormwater to drain. One business owner, Rom Askar, told NBC Los Angeles he saw the city trucks that morning and figured his shop would be fine. He showed up to find a foot of water outside his walls and six inches inside his store.
A shop owner who has run businesses in the area for 40 years told NBC4 she went looking for workers when the water started rising. Nobody was there. “I was happy they are here, hoping that they are going to take care of it,” she said. “But it seems it’s worse because we depended on them.”
Another merchant, Austin Melrose, put it bluntly to CBS LA. “I had faith in this equipment, but it’s a lot of money, man. These guys’ salaries aren’t cheap, this equipment’s not cheap and if it’s not working anyways, why not pay to fix the problem?”
A Problem That Keeps Coming Back
The stretch of Melrose near Gardner and Martel sits in a natural low point. Business owners have described it as the bottom of a bowl for years, and the storm drains along that section of the street can’t keep up when it rains hard. Dom DeLuca, owner of the longtime Melrose skate shop Brooklyn Projects at 7427 Melrose Ave., has been one of the most vocal critics of the city’s handling of the problem. During a storm in February 2025, DeLuca told CBS LA his shop had flooded nine times in six years, with cumulative losses of more than $200,000. Last year Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky acknowledged the infrastructure needed to be upgraded and estimated the fix could run between $20 million and $40 million. See footage from yesterday’s flooding below.
Monday’s flooding suggests not much has changed since then.
Yaroslavsky’s office responded to Monday’s incident by calling it “completely unacceptable” and demanding an immediate review from LA Sanitation and Environment. “LASAN confirmed ahead of the storm that pump trucks and crews would be staged and actively responding, as they have successfully done in the past,” her office told CBS LA. “We expect answers and we expect immediate change. This cannot happen again.”
Pete Nichols, executive director of the neighborhood group Melrose Action, offered context last year that still applies. Budget cuts to services like street cleaning have compounded the drainage issues, because debris that would normally get cleared ends up clogging storm drains when the rain comes. “The city crews are just so taxed,” Nichols said. “I empathize with our merchants because they too have been through hell and back.”
More rain on the way
Monday’s storm was the first in a series of three expected this week. A second, colder system is forecast to move in Tuesday night into Wednesday, and a third is being watched for Thursday. West Hollywood recorded 1.71 inches from Monday’s storm alone, and the rain season total for downtown LA has now pushed well past its full-season normal of 14.25 inches with more than four months still to go.
If you missed our full storm coverage and rainfall totals, catch up here.
Related Stories
Pineapple Express Storm Forecast to Get Worse Before It Gets Better Across SoCal
West Hollywood Weather Forecast: More Rain on the Way as Season Totals Push Toward Record Territory
West Hollywood’s section of Melrose used to flood regularly but thankfully the City was able to resolve the problem. That is the difference between living in West Hollywood rather than Los Angeles.