S1: Welcome in San Diego. It's Jade Hindman on this episode of KPBS Midday Edition. President Trump says to let Iran take out San Diego and Los Angeles during a Nebraska campaign speech. We'll hear reaction. This is KPBS Midday Edition. Connecting our communities through conversation. So as San Diego continues through an October heat wave , the region is also preparing for what's expected to be a historic El Nino season. We wanted to talk more about storm preparedness. I'm joined now by Robert Resigned. He is an assistant fire chief with San Diego Fire Rescue. Robert , welcome.
S2: Thank you for having me.
S1: Glad to have you here. Also from the county of San Diego. Ashley Jane is here. She is community engagement program manager with the county. Ashley , welcome to you. Hi , Jade. Thank you. So we have you here to talk about storm preparedness , but we happen to be talking during an extreme heat warning this summer has thrown multiple heat waves our way. And I'm curious to know , what have you learned this summer and now fall when it comes to extreme heat and preparedness?
S2: Yeah , absolutely. With the El Nino , something that we've learned is , is that not only is it potentially a wet season , but it's also hot. It comes with humidity , elevated temperatures and changes in the in the weather that are not typical for for the region. And so we've been preparing since the end of June of this year to not only prepare for the rainy season that we're anticipating , but also to prepare for these heat waves and heat warnings. Hmm.
S1: Hmm. Ashley , what do we know about the health impacts? I mean.
S3: It's definitely not safe to be out in the heat. So if there's any kinds of , uh , individuals with access or functional needs. If there's older adults , children , things like that definitely take advantage of the cool zones across the county and make sure that you're staying in the air conditioning , because it can cause , you know , all different types of impacts , including heat stroke. And we want to make sure people are staying safe.
S1: I know we've seen it. There's an uptick in 911 calls. The county says it's received 378 heat related calls so far. Last year. It was just 247 for the entire year. With that volume of calls coming in , are there things that you all are having to do differently?
S3: I know that the city of San Diego extended their cool zone hours a couple of times. Now. There's been additional public messaging that's gone out through Alert San Diego , just to make sure that people are aware of what their resources are. And I know that our public health team has been doing a lot of extreme heat event considerations. So they've been working with , you know , the local hospitals , working with the local , um. Oh my gosh , the residential facilities. Everyone to make sure that everyone has the resource.
S1: It's a big coordinated effort. I'm sure.
S3: It really. Is.
S1: Is. Um , temperatures are supposed to decrease by the end of the week. So let's talk about these later. Fall months into the the the weather. How wet is San Diego likely to be in the coming months , Robert.
S2: Well , that's really difficult to predict. And before I even go into that , I want to also warn that we're still going to have the likely experiencing additional heat waves. There's additional red flag warnings and , and , uh , dry , uh , Santa Ana events as we go through October before we actually see the potential wet season. But it's really difficult to predict. We've had El Ninos in the past that have actually produced drier than normal seasons , but the majority of them produce wetter than normal seasons. And then the question is , is it going to come all at once in one large storm? Is it going to be drawn out with a series of smaller storms throughout the season. We do anticipate , based on National Weather Service , that we are expected to see a significant El Nino , and it's supposed to last for a significant amount of time , even beyond February.
S1: So with that in mind , how are you all preparing?
S2: So the city of San Diego stood up a San Diego El Nino working group and started at the end of June. And we've been meeting every other week with all the city city leaderships. And that includes 24 different departments , with all the offices engaged in a biweekly meeting. And then within those groups , we created these sub working groups that are meeting just about every day on addressing 60 different programs and challenges that we're trying to overcome , any gaps that we've identified in the past , everything from community preparedness to access points for our swiftwater rescue teams , to access river bottom areas , to initiating our berms at the coastal areas a month ahead of time. So it's been a really , really great coordinated effort throughout the city for every department , really getting engaged and getting hands on.
S1: You mentioned , you know , swiftwater rescue teams. I'm assuming you're anticipating there could be some flooding. What other weather events are you all preparing for? What kind of scenarios are we thinking?
S2: Well , obviously the number one that we're concerned about is any type of flash flooding or fast rapid moving water. So that's that's our number one concern. You could have prolonged storms that just elevates the creeks and rivers , which then increase the overflow and flood water issues as well. So those are kind of the two big ones that we're really concerned about. And then of course , whenever there's a lot of water , there's always the potential for any kind of mudslides or land movement , which we're also keeping an eye on.
S1: And , Ashley , how are you all coordinating on the county side?
S3: So I actually met with some folks from Chief Rezendes team to try and hear a little bit about what they were doing to see if we could follow a similar model. So the county also has a severe weather preparedness task force that's stood up with all of the different county departments that play a role. So big key players are teams from the Department of Public Works , County Fire , some other groups that are going to be looking out for , like you said , those burn scars , mudslides , things like that. So we're doing that on that end. But then also we're just doing an intense amount of early season preparedness messaging. So we stood up in El Nino Hub on the Alert San Diego website with preparedness information for the community. We've also been going out and doing a lot of different presentations for community members so that they can kind of help each other get prepared. Um , also , we're distributing our personal disaster plans through food distribution sites , churches , things like that. So anyone really , wherever we can reach them to help kind of share the messaging of creating your plan early. We're trying to hit them really early this year , right?
S1: So for all the organizations and the partners , you're sort of building out the architecture for that collaboration to happen. What can people do? Um , what what can I do in my own home? Um , to to be prepared.
S2: So the big thing is really is building resiliency starts at home , right? So it's the city is trying to build resilience within its own departments. But the that we really want to help the , the the residents and visitors to make sure that they are resilient. And to do that you got to basically kind of follow the build , have a plan , build a kit and stay informed. And that means going to the websites , both the county and the city. The city has a website , San Diego Gov , that has a ton of resources to get you prepared to build a plan , to have a phone tree within your significant family and friends , to develop a go kit , to have some emergency prepared , uh , bags available for you to if you have to leave your home to grab what you need and don't leave the important things behind. Like your medications. Uh , important documents. Making sure that those are all in water sealed bags. And make sure that you have the ability to grab it and go in a very short amount of time.
S3: And then I just wanted to add one of the big things that we've really been messaging is the importance of flood insurance. A lot of people don't realize that flood insurance doesn't come standard in their home insurance or in their renters insurance. So looking through FEMA's National Flood Insurance Program to find out if you are able to add that to your policy , that's really going to be the first line of defense in the event of major flood waters coming through , because most insurance policies don't cover it standard. Um , I will say City of San Diego's negotiated a discount. Same for that unincorporated territory. So if folks look up the FEMA National Flood Insurance Program that it takes 30 days for the policy to kick in. So I would take a look at it now , right.
S1: I mean , it sounds like you all are really sort of getting the wheels turning on your response early before we have any emergencies , I can think back to the storm of January 2024 , which led to the devastating flooding in southeast San Diego. What has the city and county done to prevent that from happening again , and also to improve the your your response? There were a lot of folks who were kind of left in the lurch. So what's new now?
S2: So I think the first thing is preventing the storm itself is obviously not something that's that's we're able to do. It's unfortunately that the that the weather can turn very quickly on us. The important thing is what you said before is are we prepared with the mechanisms in place ahead of time to ensure that we have the right contacts in the communities , working with community leadership and faith based organizations and volunteer organizations to make sure we know who they are , that they have a contact with us , that we have a contact with them , that we can initiate those conversations super early talking with County , you know , and Ashley and I have had multiple conversations. So making sure that those relationships are really solid. So then when we do need to activate and we do need to reach out to those resources , the reflex time of putting those things in place can be significantly short shortened. And that's really a huge component of that preparedness and making sure that we can provide those services to the community as soon as possible. Ashley.
S1: Ashley.
S3: I'll say to you , another piece that was the result of those floods was that both the city of San Diego and the County of San Diego created community engagement team members within the offices of Emergency Services. So that's how my position exists. And those are the folks that I coordinate most often with on chief Reasons team. So for us , it's been really important getting out into the community and meeting with the nonprofits that are serving and popped up as a result of those 2024 floods , to kind of talk through where the gaps are , how we can , you know , help fill them or help connect them with other appropriate partners and kind of create more community resilience together.
S2: And also , if I can add , not that I want to speak on behalf of the Stormwater Department , but they've been working incredibly. They're working six days a week , 12 hours a day. They have non-stop work being done from clearing the storm water channels , a coordination with their parks and Rec to make sure that we have those sand berms , for example , to prevent that , that ocean flooding that occurs during king tides. And so all of that coordinated effort has been ramped up. And so they've done record number of miles of clearance of the storm waters. They've been doing some repair areas where the areas that have been identified that had potential failures , they've been repairing those. They're ahead of schedule. So kudos to the stormwater department in the city. They've done an excellent job.
S3: That's a great point. And I do want to mention to it's similar for the county , the Department of Public Works doing a lot of work. And for anyone who's identifying any needs , both the city and the county have apps available to report it , have phone numbers available. So for the the city. I think it's the get it done app. And then for the county it's the tell us now app. Great.
S1: Great. And I know that you know in preparation of flooding the city is giving out sandbags. How can people get Ahold of the sandbags and sand to go in those sandbags? Yeah.
S2: Yeah. So normally our normal year we give out sandbags at all of our recreation centers so you can go to the city's owning your website , and you'll find the location of every one of those rec centers , the times to go get those that are available about ten sandbags per resident is what we have allocated. The good news is that through some philanthropic opportunities , we've been able to procure sand. So that's kind of new news that we've been able to procure a significant amount of sand filled sandbags. And that logistics of getting those rolled out is getting finalized this week. And the goal is to start having some rotation of a filled sandbags delivered to the rec centers , specifically identified rec centers that the public can come out and grab some filled sandbags.
S1: Are there any particular areas in our county and city where you highly recommend people? Be prepared with those sandbags? Get those now.
S2: I think go. Ahead.
S3: Ahead. Oh no. Just I was going to mention there's a tool to know your hazards tool. Um , so I would I would recommend looking up honestly to see if you're in a floodplain because there are so many different areas of San Diego. I didn't know this , but Borrego Springs is a huge flood risk. Um , so the Know Your Hazards tool you can put in your address , it's on alert San Diego , and it'll tell you if you're within a floodplain or if you're at risk if you identify that you are. I would definitely recommend prioritizing getting sandbags as early in the season as possible in two. And one , also countywide , has the resources available. If you go to two and one , San Diego or El Nino , you can put in your zip code and it'll tell you the sandbag stations that are closest to you , just in case you're not within the city or the county , unincorporated territory.
S2: And then the other piece is also to not forget that rain can happen even if you're not in a flood zone. You could have flooding if the rain just so happens to hit in that specific area. And so trying to take a look at what how your neighborhood , you know , responds to rain. So if you're if you've been living in your home , you usually know if your garage gets flooded. Also , making sure that all of the the parts within your own private property are taken care of , making sure that your gutters are cleared , making sure that the downspouts are clear. Making sure that there's no debris on your property that will turn into clogging a local stormwater system. All of those things are things that we can do now to make sure that we are prepared well.
S1: Com wet streets typically flood in the city.
S2: There's probably too many to list pretty much anywhere that you're going to have a creek bed or a river bed. Any type of flowing water or waterway can be expected to potentially overflow , depending on the rate and the volume of water that comes down.
S1: All right. Any advice for drivers?
S4: Turn around. Don't drown. Yes , yes.
S2: That is the number one advice , of course. Check your tires. Making sure that they are not low on tread before the rain comes. And if you need to replace those , do that making sure that your vehicles are. If there is an anticipated large amount of of rain coming and you potentially have to move. Make sure that your vehicles are full of fuel , that they're ready to go , that they're mechanically sound. Doing all those checks ahead of times really reduces the stress. If you do have to get in your vehicle and leave.
S3: I will say. I.
S1: I.
S3: Just learned that it only takes 12in of water depth in order to move a small car , um , and 10 to 24in to move an SUV. So I don't think many people have a good way to gauge that. But that's why we set up barricades. Please never , ever , ever drive around a barricade.
S2: And the other piece , that's a kind of a unique feature now , in today's day and age is electric vehicles. If they get inundated with water , they become a significant fire risk. So that's something to think about too.
S1: That's something I hadn't even considered. Well , we'll include links to all of this information and all of the resources mentioned in this segment on our website , KPBS. Org. I've been speaking with Ashley Gaines. She is community engagement program manager with San Diego County , along with Assistant Fire Chief Robert Ryan resigned with the San Diego Fire Rescue Department. Thank you so much to both of you.
S4: Thank you. Thank you.
S1: That's our show for today. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose , everyone.
