SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — With a strong El Niño pattern expected this fall and winter, the city of San Diego is focusing on seniors who could face extra challenges during an emergency.
The city is hosting three preparedness workshops at local senior centers, showing people how to make a plan. The personal disaster plan book being distributed is just the first step in helping seniors prepare for an El Niño winter.
The city of San Diego stopped by the Cathy Hopper Friendship Center to make sure seniors have the information and resources they need to stay safe when the rains come.
For Anne Bilyeu Dirks, past experience is why she's not waiting for the next storm to prepare.
"I remember in '98 they had a huge El Niño and our streets were flooded… you worry about your roof and whether you can get to the grocery store," Bilyeu Dirks said.
"You need to have everything you need to be prepared — water, food, pet food, prescriptions," Bilyeu Dirks said.
City officials say that kind of planning is especially important for seniors.
"We want to make sure that they're prepared very early… and we want to create these reminders really often to give them the best chance to have the greatest success in the event that they're going to have to make some kind of a decision," Jason Shanley said.
The city handed out books to help create an emergency plan and sandbags.
"If you've had sandbags from a couple of years ago or ones that are a little bit older, you may wanna test them to see if they still have the structural integrity to be able to hold the sand that's in there," Shanley said.
Shanley, a captain with the Office of Emergency Services, says his biggest advice is to make sure all important documents are in a weatherproof box and to make sure medications are in a spot where they can be quickly grabbed.
"We wanna make sure that it's not just your medication that you're packing, but you're also packing the medication for your pet," Shanley said.
The city is also offering transportation help for homebound seniors and sandbag deliveries for those in flood-prone areas.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
