The City of Chula Vista isn’t looking forward to El Niño, but the South Bay city is preparing for more water.
San Diego County’s second largest city just unveiled a new sand bag machine to cap off months of work to prepare for the heavy winter storm.
“The forecasters are pretty certain we’re going to have a very wet winter,” said Chula Vista Public Works Director Rick Hopkins.
The city recently revealed it had cleared more than 146,000 square feet of storm drain channels, replaced 300 feet of corrugated metal pipe, and removed more than 80,000 pounds of debris and trash from those areas.
“Since we’ve had the drought for so many years, there’s a lot of drainage areas people don’t realize, they swell and get flooded,” said Hopkins.
The city has produced hundreds of sand bags already and they’ll continue to make them as demand increases. Chula Vista residents are allowed 10 bags each to block doorways and patios. In February, when the storm is expected to peak, the sand bags will also be available at four Chula Vista Fire stations.
In the meantime, the city recommended its residents prepare for the worst by storing a week’s worth of supplies, food, and medications in case El Niño knocks out more than storm drains.
