The state of California has staged 4.4 million sandbags and other flood-fighting material at 68 locations in eight warehouses. “DWR has prepositioned 4.4 million sandbags and other flood-fighting material at 68 locations in eight warehouses across the state,” said Thomas Gibson, director of the Department of Water Resources. That stockpile is the visible edge of an emergency Governor Gavin Newsom proclaimed on Monday, September 21, ahead of an El Niño that forecasters say could be the strongest on record.
Federal forecasters put the chance of a very strong event this fall and winter above 90%, and the chance of historic strength at 75%. Newsom’s office says the emerging El Niño is already breaking records. The Los Angeles Times, citing government forecasters, put it another way: a 75% chance this event beats any El Niño since 1950.
What the proclamation does
The order streamlines procurement and frees up state resources before winter storms arrive. State agencies are to lead flood-risk reduction and stock sandbags, pumps and other equipment. Caltrans will stage traffic-control, road-closure and snow-removal gear along the highways most at risk. The California National Guard is readied for flood response, search and rescue, engineering and logistics, and it has high-water rescue vehicles and helicopters on call. State environmental and natural resources agencies will fast-track permits for local flood, landslide and debris-flow work.
The Governor’s Office of Emergency Services must also expand multilingual public warnings on severe weather, flooding, evacuation readiness and power outages.
“We are not waiting for this season’s storms to be on our doorstep,” said Cal OES Director Caroline Thomas Jacobs. “This is not about fear, it’s about readiness,” she told ABC7. Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot said the proclamation was about “cutting red tape and fast-tracking the flood-protection and broader preparedness work communities need now.”
Newsom said: “We are preparing for this El Niño early because every Californian deserves to be safe in their home, connected to their community, and protected when severe weather comes.”
Damage already on the coast
The state has not waited for winter to feel it. Flooding damaged homes from south Orange County to Malibu, and erosion cut into shorelines from Carlsbad to Long Beach. Laguna Beach, Dana Point and Carlsbad declared local emergencies over erosion and sand loss, and Orange County activated its emergency operations center. A south swell from Hurricane Marie and a “coastally trapped Kelvin wave” moving up Mexico’s coast are both being tracked, the LA Times reported.
Officials list the practical risks: repeated rounds of heavy rain, strong winds, mountain snow, landslides, debris flows and coastal flooding, worst when storms coincide with very high tides. For households that means closed roads, power cuts, damaged homes and businesses, and steep repair and insurance bills.
In Marin County, emergency management director Steven Torrence pointed to this year’s king-tide and winter flooding as a preview, and said the declaration will help Bay Area counties get supplies faster. The county has launched a Ready Marin El Niño website.
Why El Niño matters here
El Niño is a natural pattern of warmer-than-average ocean water in the tropical eastern Pacific. It can shift storm tracks and bring wetter, more intense winters to California. A study in the journal Science last month found El Niño events are now more than 36% stronger than before the industrial era, a trend that has sped up over the past 40 years. It does not guarantee a wet winter, officials noted, but it raises the odds of strong storms.
Newsom also proclaimed emergencies for earlier storm damage in Glenn, Humboldt, Kern, Mendocino and Santa Barbara Counties and for a major sewage spill in Lake County. Separately, he ended 34 open emergencies from fires, storms and other events in 2023 and 2024.
Residents are told to know their flood risk, keep an evacuation plan and emergency kit ready, and never drive through floodwater.
Sources
- Governor Newsom proclaims state of emergency to bolster statewide El Nino preparedness, protect California | Governor of California
- California declares statewide emergency as El Niño threatens floods, high surf, and erosion
- Bay Area asked to prepare for El Niño storms this winter after CA declares state of emergency
