(dramatic music)
- I'm sitting on this milk crate.
It's still raining right now,
and I don't know how long it gonna rain.
(dramatic music continues)
- Someone came yesterday and said,
"The rain's coming, are you ready?"
and I'm like, "What, are you serious?"
It's always gloomy this time of year,
so I was expecting it, but it came on pretty strong.
One of the worst parts is I don't have any news.
I don't have TV, so I can't watch the news.
I have my phone.
I either have power, or I don't have power,
so I couldn't really get any weather advisories on my phone.
- It rained last night, and I got cold,
I started freezing, you know?
This weather is ooh, off and on, off and on, you know,
(dramatic music continues)
- I've been down here for 27 years.
It rains a lot over here in California,
in LA, Downtown, yeah.
Skid Row down here isn't like, no, no vacation.
It's nothing like camping at all, nuh-uh, uh-uh.
(dramatic music continues)
- My tent, it's just full of water right now.
It's just like couldn't stand the rain.
It just caved in.
So, I just had to just sit it out.
I mean, you know, even though it was raining on me,
and there was nothing I can do, there was nowhere to go.
And this was my best option. (water sloshing)
- That is a collection of rainwater.
Yeah, that pink thing, that was empty.
My tent got flooded, and I slept in a puddle of water.
I was laying in a puddle of this.
Within 10 minutes of of it raining,
just water started pouring down.
The tarps are made out of plastic,
so it just collects it into, like, little puddles.
And then, it all just comes running down into it
'cause it has seams, and it just drips into it.
(water sloshing)
- It come down heavy.
And I had to get out of the tent.
Instead of staying in the tent,
I had to get out of the tent.
And I come outside because there was holes in the tent,
and I had to come outside
and set up by the wall and stuff like that.
So, I froze, and I went to sleep anyway in the rain.
I'm still cold.
I'm shivering right now, you know.
- I woke up in water.
I woke up laying in water
and water coming down on top of me.
And there was nothing to do about it.
The water just kept coming, and I was still in water,
and I was still frozen
and going out (horn honking)
to get blankets, and sheets,
and dry clothing was not an option.
It was not an option.
There was nowhere to go.
(plastic rustling)
(water sloshing)
- The rats will run.
They live under the tent.
Well, the rats are running away from the water
'cause it's cold and wet.
And so they're trying to get somewhere that's, like, dry.
They'll come and nest inside the tent looking for food,
looking for, like, a pile of, like, warm, dry clothes
to, like, have their babies in.
It's pretty gross.
- [Brenda] Just wet and sloppy wet, and it just gets
rainier and rainier and wetter and wetter
'cause the tent falls apart sooner or later
'cause the wind blows it down.
- I covered it with tarps,
but the wind that comes with the rain blows the tarps off
and makes it really, really cold when (laughing) it rains.
(dramatic music continues)
- I gotta get another one. (tent clanking)
There's a hole on the bottom of my tent.
And I got wet.
My cardboard got all wet, and I got wet,
and right now I'm shivering.
(dramatic music continues)
- Everything get wet.
Like, right now, I'm just all messed up.
My food got wet, and all my clothes wet.
My tennis shoes wet.
- Your body, your clothes, your blankets, your shoes
your socks, your hair, your ponchos, your jackets
everything gets sopping wet.
(dramatic music continues)
(helicopter whirring)
- Yeah, just everything's wet, everything's wet.
The blankets got wet.
Everything got wet.
And I got soaking wet, and I didn't feel good,
so I just shook and shook until I went to sleep.
Then, I woke up, and it rained a little bit more.
- Just don't get sick, that's all.
- [Cornell] I just fell asleep shaking.
I'm hoping I'm not sick.
- You don't get sick out here and stuff like that
because you get too sick here, you die.
For real, for real.
- Everything got wet, man.
And the ground get cold, you hear me?
And it's the same 'cause some people wake up.
Some of 'em don't.
You know what I'm saying?
And it's serious.
I lost a couple friends this past couple of weeks
in this rain, you know, in the cold weather.
I just thank God, man, you know that,
you know, that he keep me alive,
you know, I pulled through this shit, man,
'cause you gotta be a strong person to be able
to stand the rain, you know, and deal with this stuff.
And I tell you the truth, man.
I'm holding on, and thank God, you know, for a man like me.
(dramatic music continues)
(bright music)