As an atmospheric river heads for the Bay Area, a San Jose resident took no chances.
James, who lives in San Jose, went to get sandbags, hoping that they will keep the water away from his garage.
“I heard it’s going to pound a little bit so just a precaution,” James said. “This gets clogged up and it starts getting a little closer, a little closer, and gets up to here, as you can see there’s wetness from the last time.”
The last major storm that hit the bay area in October caused heavy flooding in parts of San Jose, leading to a couple of cars getting stuck. A woman also had to be rescued.
City crews were busy Wednesday, shoveling and clearing debris to prevent flooding like that from happening again.
“We go to every storm drain on the map, we look at it. We make sure it’s clean, no debris in there and we clean it up,” said Khourng Yan, a maintenance worker with the San Jose Department of Transportation.
In San Jose, piles of leaves could be seen sitting in the streets, outside of people’s homes.
City officials say the placement of those piles is crucial.
“If you’re piling up your yard ways for collection, make sure it’s a foot away from the gutter so that rain water can still pass thru the gutter behind it,” said Colin Heyne, public information manager with the Department of Transportation.
City crews are on alert, as well as PG&E crews and CHP.
Heavy rain is expected to hit during the morning commute.
“Slow down, watch your speed, sometimes if it’s pouring rain, there’s a lot of water on our roadways, speed is what causes the majority of these spinouts, the crashes that we see during the rain,” said Sgt. Andrew Barclay with CHP Golden Gate Division.
Residents are encouraged to leave a bit earlier in the morning to give themselves some more time.
The city asks those who see flooded storm drain to call 311.
Source: NBC Bay Area