Overview
- The county board proclaimed the local emergency on Tuesday to centralize preparations and set up an El Niño Readiness Task Force led by Dr. Shruti Dhapodkar through the end of March.
- The declaration lets officials activate anti-gouging rules, preposition sandbags and materials, and rapidly deploy contractors to clear debris from streams, waterways and culverts.
- The City of Pacifica began emergency stabilization work on its damaged Municipal Pier with a large crane mobilizing on October 21 to reinforce the structure ahead of the storm season.
- Officials warn that king-tide windows around late November, late December and late January overlap holidays and could combine with severe storms to push coastal water levels as high as about 10 feet, so residents should sign up for SMC Alert, gather multi-day supplies and use local sandbag sites now.
- Meteorologists are forecasting a strong-to-very-strong El Niño this winter, which raises the odds of heavier storms, coastal erosion, landslides and multi-day power or communications outages and makes early local readiness essential.