A team at the San Joaquin County Office of Emergency Services will be on call through the weekend and the Christmas holiday.
STOCKTON, Calif. — Emergency officials across San Joaquin County are urging residents to prepare, if possible, as days of rain are expected to move into the Valley and foothills.
After weeks of foggy conditions and little sunshine, the sound of rustling leaves and a look at the forecast prompted some residents to act early.
“It’s just important, especially in an older neighborhood where the storm drain systems are usually a little bit older and undersized to really rake up the leaves,” said midtown Stockton resident Brent Collins while raking leaves Friday. “Especially when you have like eight days of rain coming in like you do now.”
While residents worked outside, emergency officials were monitoring conditions from offices in south Stockton.
Kia Xiong with the San Joaquin County Office of Emergency Services said staff have been tracking the storm and coordinating with city and local partners to ensure resources are ready if conditions worsen.
“We’ve been tracking it. We’ve been working with our city partners, our local partners, to make sure that we have all the emergency resources we need to respond to this storm should we reach that level,” Xiong said. She added that a skeleton crew will be on call through the weekend and Christmas holiday if there is a need to activate the county’s Emergency Operations Center.
Xiong said preparing ahead of time is encouraged, but residents should not panic.
“Go outside. Rake those leaves up. Clear those drains,” Xiong said. “While this is reminiscent of the 2022/2023 storms, we want to reassure the public that we are not seeing the ground saturation levels we did during those storms. We are going to see about two to three inches of rain over the course of six to seven days, so we are not expected to see water levels in our reservoirs or rivers rise to flood levels.”
Emergency officials also recommend residents review household emergency plans, prepare an emergency supply kit, establish a family meeting point and sign up for SJ Ready alerts so the county can provide direct updates if conditions change.
“A little bit of maintenance beforehand saves a lot of trouble,” Collins said.
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