CALEXICO, Calif. (Border Report) — Esteban Ojeda was visiting his cousin and other relatives when their cellphones suddenly went off with a warning: A giant sandstorm was approaching and it would arrive in an hour.
Ojeda didn’t believe it.
“The sky was super clear and you go nothing is going to happen,” he said. “And my other cousin shows up and he goes outside, and now his hair is almost blowing off it’s so crazy, and the sky is all brown, you couldn’t see an inch in front of you.”
Ojeda admitted it was worrisome not knowing when it was going to end.
“It was really scary,” he said. “It was raining and wet we don’t get a lot of that in Calexico. It’s kind of dangerous to be out on the road, too.”
Ojeda said the worst part was not being able to get a hold of his mother. It would take two hours before he talked to her on the phone.
“I’m kind of waiting until the dust settles down,” he says, “And as soon as the dust settles down, this rainbow shows up and all of a sudden a downpour of rain for about 10 minutes.”
According to police in Calexico, there were no serious injuries reported in the city. There were also no injuries in Imperial Valley.
But it was a different story south of the border in Mexicali.
There were widespread power outages as electric lines, poles and trees came tumbling down.
Streetlights also went out leading to several car crashes.
A wall collapsed at a local university and buried four vehicles in a parking structure.
Fortunately, according to Mexicali police, there were no reports of serious injuries.
