Officials from the Santa Clara Valley Water District, Santa Clara County and the City of San Jose have alerted the public this week to the risks of flooding this rainy season, providing directions to preparation and emergency resources.

“This winter, the climate prediction center at the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration is forecasting a higher probability of above normal rainfall,” said Brian Garcia, the warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service in the Bay Area.

Last winter, dozens of atmospheric river storms dumped a record-setting amount of rain and snow, causing power outages and downed trees in the region. Water ponding in low-lying and poor drainage areas, including near-blocked culverts and storm drains, impacted Santa Clara County communities and roadways, according to the county’s emergency response center.

“So far this year, we have filled 97,000 sandbags, removed sediment from creeks and streams and repaired levees,” said Melanie Richardson, assistant chief executive officer for Valley Water.

Richardson was standing in front of the Lower Silver Creek in East San Jose, where crews recently removed 4 feet of sediment. 

  • Flood weather warning from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
  • How to prepare for, and drive in, wet weather. (National Weather Service via Bay City News)

San Jose City Councilmember Domingo Candelas said his city has prepared by upgrading stormwater drainage systems and coordinating with the county to assess high-risk areas and make similar adaptations.

Santa Clara County residents can go to valleywater.org/floodready to find information on where to obtain free-filled sandbags, download disaster emergency warning apps, sign up to receive alerts, make a household flood plan, and learn if they live in a flood zone. 

Ruth Dusseault is an investigative reporter and multimedia journalist focused on environment and energy. Her position is supported by the California local news fellowship, a statewide initiative spearheaded by UC Berkeley aimed at supporting local news platforms. While a student at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism (c’23), Ruth developed stories about the social and environmental circumstances of contaminated watersheds around the Great Lakes, Mississippi River and Florida’s Lake Okeechobee. Her thesis explored rights of nature laws in small rural communities. She is a former assistant professor and artist in residence at Georgia Tech’s School of Architecture, and uses photography, film and digital storytelling to report on the engineered systems that undergird modern life.