Zapped in Imperial Beach

Imperial Beach resident Sarah Teck said she got shocked in the early evening on Saturday, January 23rd, when she stepped on a metal plate imprinted with the words "TRAFFIC SIGNAL" on Seacoast Drive near Encanto Avenue.

"I was barefoot and the sidewalk was wet. I felt a very sharp nerve pain through my feet and up through my shins," Teck said via email.

"I am so grateful my one-and-a-half-year-old son, who was with me at the time — in my husband’s arms — was not walking over this particular plate in that moment," she said. "I am not sure how small bodies of humans and animals can handle this electrical shock."

After initially calling SDG&E, Teck learned from the Imperial Beach Public Works Department that this flooding problem has been happening more and more due to the king tides (extra high tides) and the heavy El Niño rains.

"They said the electrical boxes have been filling with water due to all the flooding on Seacoast," Teck said of her call to Marco Cortez of the Public Works Department.

"The technician assured me that their boxes only put out 120 volts — that is what shocked me," Teck said. "Similar to a household plug." The repair happened the same evening as the incident, she said, and involved installing water-resistant terminals.

Specifically, the cause was a combination of the increase in the ground-water level during high tides and a deterioration in the water-tight connections in the underground electrical boxes so that they were no longer water tight, according the city manager Andy Hall.

Warning signs about electric shock danger is another thing Teck discussed with the Public Works Department. "They already have 'Flooding' signs," she said. "Why not notify the public about potential live wires too!"

But the problem has already been fixed, according to Hall. "We have taken action to replace all water-tight connections in the flood-prone areas, primarily on South Seacoast," he said. “That has been repaired…. We replaced them all."