SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – With a possible atmospheric river in the forecast, San Francisco is learning from the past.
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Quite recently, San Francisco, along with many other cities ran out of sandbags during massive rainstorms at the beginning of the year.
But not this time.
The storms that passed through the area during New Year’s Eve and the beginning of January took everyone by surprise.
San Francisco ran out of sandbags and was forced to limit them to city residents and businesses only, with just four allotted per address instead of the usual 10.
While many have hung on to theirs, those who need new ones can go to the corporation yard at Kansas and Marin between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. to get theirs.
"I think people were taken by surprise of what happened in January," said Rachel Gordon, a spokesperson for the San Francisco Department of Public Works.
"We haven't seen rains like that in San Francisco for a long, long time," she said. "It was not the record rain, but it was near record rain."
"Certainly everyone's prepared and preparing in the city for it," said Gordon. "There are going to be some instances though when you're not going to be prepared."
"There's going to be so much water coming down that the storm sewers are not going to be able to handle the capacity if it gets to be very heavy rains," she said.
"There's no storm system built in this country that can have the deluge of rains like we saw in January," said Gordon.
People can help out by clearing out the drains themselves.
Over 1,000 trees and tree limbs came down during those storms, and crews are out now trying to get a jump on any weak ones.
"We also want folks – if they see a precarious tree, if there's a limb hanging or a tree really leaning – please call 311 this week," she said.
If the situation is dangerous, like a tree leaning on wires or blocking a road, they should call 911.
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