SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – The City of San Diego’s Office of Emergency Services operations center is where City teams have been having not only a busy summer with rescues but also preparing for the potential impacts that El Niño can bring to the City.
“So, our lifeguards have been very busy. The trails as well with the heat, and there's a lot of people out, out in the communities,” Deputy Chief Willy Melendez with San Diego Fire-Rescue Department said.
Following the unofficial end of summer, the City told ABC 10News San Diego’s made 6377 water rescues from June 1st to September 7th.
“With our El Niño preparations, we are anticipating a very busy winter. With the significant amount of water that we anticipate, with the forecast, our swift water teams are getting more prepared. Our fire department's making some preparations as well,” Melendez said.
Much of that planning and preparing happens here at the City of San Diego’s Office of Emergency Services.
Dustin Ivers with OES told ABC 10News the City’s been preparing for El Niño since June.
“We put together a citywide working group that has every one of the departments and offices of the City of San Diego working towards 5 main objectives, and right now we have 60 different projects working concurrently under 9 different sub-working groups focused on all kinds of different things,” Dustin Ivers with the City of San Diego Office of Emergency Services said.
Part of that is being ready for the rain.
“We're looking more at our flood and our stormwater infrastructure and our plans for when that infrastructure can't handle the load that an El Niño storm brings to it,” Ivers said.
And well before the storms come.
“The sand berms that folks will see along the coastlines like in Ocean Beach, those go up every year for storm surge in the wintertime. They're doing that a month early. They started that work now, and it's underway,” Ivers said.
First responders will be ready depending on how much rain and where it's expected.
“The lifeguard division specifically will upstaff, swift water rescue teams strategically placed throughout the city all the way from the border up to the northern part of our city,” Melendez said.
As the City’s preparing for a wet winter after a hot summer, they want to make sure you’re ready too.
“Whoever can prepare to also prepare. That could be buying your own sandbags and sand to mitigate any flood hazards to your property,” Ivers said.
