San Francisco residents bracing for more rain

San Francisco is already bracing for the upcoming storm, just days before an atmospheric river has caused widespread flooding across the city.

“Knowing it had been raining for 12 hours, I figured they (the storm barriers) would be outside,” said business owner Cleto Gonzalez.

Gonzalez runs a furniture company at 17th and Folsom in San Francisco.

He mentioned the storm barriers that are usually set up across the street from his office before any major storm. That’s why he’s shocked that the barriers weren’t put up long before one of the wettest days on record.

“Usually this is my clue. When I see the city putting up these barriers, I know something is coming, let’s start putting more things in, whatever happens,” Gonzalez said.

His business, like many others, is still recovering from a weekend hurricane that caused massive flooding across the city.

The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission is responsible for the barriers and said the storm was much stronger than expected so they didn’t install them.

However, they plan to put up barriers from Tuesday.

Mary Ellen Carroll, Executive Director of the City’s Office of Emergency Management, said the Personal Emergency Operations Center will be activated due to the upcoming storm.

Crews will be tending trees and cleaning drains for the next 48 hours, and she is warning residents that the next storm will hit even harder.

“We expect more floods, more trees to fall,” Carroll said.

Carroll added that because of the flooding, they were inundated with emergency calls. She said these calls should go to 311 unless it’s a life-threatening emergency. She mentioned that the City plans to hold a press conference on Tuesday to prepare for the storm.