County Crews Are Ready for Storm, County Offers Tips to Stay Safe

With the County's first winter storm predicted to stretch through the weekend and into early next week, County of San Diego road crews are ready to respond if needed and the County is offering tips to help people stay safe.

The County and CAL FIRE pushed out lists earlier this week of where people in the unincorporated areas can get free sand bags to protect their properties.

County road crews are ready to respond with heavy equipment, asphalt pile for potholes and fiber rolls to prevent erosion that can disrupt roads.

Those County crews actually work all year around to inspect and clear culverts and inlets that deflect water from roads, trim trees and sweep roads. With the expected rains, they are also prepared to respond to the weather, including providing 24-hour coverage as needed through the days and nights. They also have snowplows ready to deploy at the County's higher elevations, even though current weather forecasts do not expect temperatures to drop to snow-inducing levels.

Tips for the Public

• In areas that often see flooding during rain, people should prepare their areas with sandbags to protect against flooding or to prevent soil erosion.
• Areas that have been scarred by fires can suffer additional damage by soil erosion. Sandbags can be placed to divert or redirect water, mud and debris away from your property.
• People in the County's unincorporated areas can report concerns by using the County's Tell Us Now app, using the County's online service request form, or by calling the service request hotline toll free at (877) 684-8000, or at (858) 694-3850 during normal business hours.
• The County's Office of Emergency Services also has useful information about storm preparation on its website. And County Public Works has information about known low-water crossings on its Flood Control webcam page.
• The County also encourages the public to download the County's Alert San Diego app from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store to have a personal disaster plan and go-kit.

Be Careful on the Roads

County emergency services and public works road crews say people should stay alert and take precautions and drive carefully on the roads and offered the following tips. Avoid driving in heavy rain conditions. If the trip is necessary:

1. Slow down to avoid getting into an accident. It takes longer to stop when roads are wet. Allow yourself at least an extra 15 minutes or so to arrive at your destination to adjust for slower traffic.
2. Turn on your headlights to see better and make it easier for other drivers to see you. It's the law.
3. Try to drive toward the middle lanes as water tends to gather in outside lanes.
4. Defog your windows for better visibility. Rain can cause windows to fog up. Along the same lines, check your windshield wipers preferably before it rains again and replace them as needed.
5. Avoid driving through deep water because it can affect your brakes. If you cannot avoid it, test your brakes afterward to make sure they've dried out and are working properly.
6. Turn around, don't drown. In heavy rain, never drive through a flooded roadway if you cannot see the pavement. Even a few inches of water running at the right velocity can sweep a car, and even a truck, and its occupants off the roadway and downstream. You should not walk or swim across a flooded roadway either.
7. Give the cars in front of you extra distance. The spray from their vehicles - particularly from larger trucks and buses - can hamper your vision. And giving extra space to the guy in front of you also gives you more time to brake or adjust if you need to do so.
8. Keep calm, don't oversteer or stomp on the brakes if you start to hydroplane or skid when your tires lose traction with the wet road. The Department of Motor Vehicles says keep the steering wheel straight and take your foot off the accelerator so your vehicle can slow down slowly.
9. Stay focused. Remember, it's illegal, and dangerous, to try to text or use a hand-held cell phone when you're driving.
10. Slow down for the cone zone if you see highway or road workers ahead or to your side. Watch out for public works crews and equipment.