El Niño on the Horizon: How Palo Alto is bracing for El Niño conditions

Communities along the peninsula are bracing for a potential big winter. KTVU's Tori Gaines live tonight in Palo Alto where the city and residents are getting those preparations in. Tori? Yeah, good evening to you, Mike. It's a familiar sight. This is one of the free sandbag stations. There are four of them across the city of Palo Alto. It's one of the places that community members can come to get a little more prepped for the wet winter we're expecting ahead. And one trick we learned today is you do not want to put too much sand in your sandbags. El Niño is looming, and folks in Palo Alto are worried about what this year's rains could bring. For some, it's a reminder of the flood of 1998, when San Francisquito Creek overtopped its banks. They were awakened for evacuation by boat, and their house flooded three feet high, wiped out all their stuff. The house had to be taken down to bare studs. And so people here are very, very nervous about that. I've never forgotten it. It happened at 3 o'clock in the morning. And neighbors came and helped. My family came and helped. I was teaching in school here, and the whole faculty came and helped. Suzanne Garridas lived through it in 1998, when floodwaters filled her basement 12 feet high. 28 years later, she's in the same home, leaning on old friends like Charlie Hughes. He owns Ada's Cafe in Palo Alto, has known Garridas since he was four years old, and he has her back. Well, and this is where partners in crime, I'm sure, like Charlie, come into play, right? Yes, I am her partner in crime. Yes. While multi-million dollar creek projects remain years away from complete protection, Palo Alto is focusing on immediate defenses. Free sandbags are available at four locations across the city. That's the proper way of doing it, a third of a bag. That's approximately three shovels worth. That's 30 pounds. With the El Nino this year in particular, we're really going the extra mile. Making sure all of our infrastructure is ready and making sure our staff are prepared. As another unpredictable winter approaches, Garridas says living through disaster teaches a lesson she never forgot. You gain a huge respect for Mother Nature. When you see on the news other locations having any kind of weather-related disaster, you really feel for the people, what they're going through. Now, the city workers took the time to show us what a properly filled sandbag looks like. You've probably heard this before. It's no more than a third of the way full. And as you can see, it's still pretty heavy. It's still about 30 pounds. So any heavier than that, it gets a little too heavy to move. Remember, it's going to be a team effort trying to get this accomplished. Many of the city workers we spoke to today said they've been going around clearing out city drains to get everything ready. Got it. Tori Gaines, live tonight in Palo Alto. Tori, thank you for that.