Salinas residents prepare for massive floods

South Salinas residents are no strangers to destructive flooding. But as a significant El Nino looms, people are rushing to get ready.

“I have a week’s worth of water for the family, a weeks’ worth of food, a weeks’ worth of camping supplies so I can cook food,” said Salinas resident Peter Andresen.

Born and raised in Salinas, Andresen has lived through flooding before. He spoke at the Floodingand Disaster Preparedness Community Meeting Monday nightto warn others.

“You should be aware. You should ask around and find out if your neighborhood has historically flooded. Because if it has, you should prepare more aggressively,” said Andresen.

The meeting was hosted by City Councilman Steve McShane. Residents packed the First Presbyterian Church on South Main Street eager to learn more about possible flooding.

Salinas Fire Chief Ed Rodriguez said this year over the next few weeks’ fire and police will go through special training.

“There’s an eight-hour intensive course that we are putting all our personnel through, followed by intensive enhanced training with rope backs, water rescue techniques, how to don emergency equipment and how to use rescue boats. We are actually purchasing three,” said Rodriguez.

Rodriguez said more training is necessary because during flooding, half of drowning victims are the rescuers themselves.

City leaders said residents need to do their part to prepare with three simple steps:

1) Inspect your roof
2) Clear gutters and downspouts
3) Make sure there’s no standing water near your home’s foundation

All important steps, Andresen knows can help.

“We live on a flood plain. The Salinas city, the entire Salinas city is on a flood plain. You should have the ability to sleep, ability to eat, ability to do whatever you need to do for a week,” said Andresen.