Ahead of a massive storm expected to drench an already sodden state in heavy rains, officials throughout California are rushing to bring some of the tens of thousands of unhoused residents living on streets and along waterways into shelter.
In Sacramento, which is still recovering from flooding caused by a brutal New Year’s Eve storm, city officials have launched a massive effort to convince unhoused people living along the American River to relocate to safer ground.
The storm was expected to hit by late Wednesday afternoon and continue into Thursday. Two to 4 inches of rain are expected in some metro areas, with 4 to 8 inches in some mountain areas. The National Weather Service has warned of “widespread flooding and damaging winds.”
But as clouds gathered Wednesday afternoon over Sacramento — marking an end to a brief respite between deluges — some said they had no plans to move.
Mark, who is 58 and declined to give his last name, said he had spent several days trying to weatherize his camp for the storm. He had erected it next to a levee along the American River near downtown, an area that is home to many encampments.
“It’ll hold up,” he predicted, adding that he wasn’t worried about rising river water because he believed he was on high enough ground.
Mark had come to Sacramento’s Friendship Park, a homeless services operation run by Loaves and Fishes, for a hot meal Wednesday before the rain began in earnest.
The park was bustling Wednesday with unhoused people getting ready for the storm. Many were gathering supplies, including clear plastic ponchos from Loaves and Fishes.
After finishing, Mark climbed onto his bike and headed home. He wanted to get back to his dog before the rain, he said.
Donald Miller, 47, who occupies the camp next to Mark, sounded slightly less sanguine about the weather. His sleeping bags, he complained, got soaked in the last storm.
Mark shook his head. “Why did you let it get wet?” he said.
Miller shrugged. The tarps blew up, he said.
Still, Miller said he had no plans to relocate either. His dog had just had puppies.
In San Francisco, officials made beds available through Jan. 15 on a first-come, first-serve basis at four existing shelters, according to the city Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing.
The city has also set up an emergency pop-up shelter at the County Fair Building, where guests will be served two meals a day and can bring service animals. Public libraries throughout San Francisco are open during the day for anyone needing to get out of the rain.
The city’s homeless outreach team was out on the streets talking with unhoused people, providing them information on where to find shelter and passing out beanies, ponchos, blankets and other necessities, Shireen McSpadden, Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing executive director, said during a news briefing on Tuesday.
On Tuesday night, the city of San Jose issued a mandatory evacuation order for unhoused people living in creek areas.
“If you are in the banks of the waterway, your life is in danger,” the San Jose Police Department wrote on Twitter.
The city’s Office of Emergency Management will deploy a long-range audio device to make announcements near the Central Service Yard, according to a news release. The police department also made announcements along the Coyote, Guadalupe and Penetencia creeks on Tuesday night in an effort to evacuate residents.
Southern California was similarly preparing for the storm on Wednesday.
East of Los Angeles, the city of Ontario has three washes that run from north to south and end up in the Prado Basin and Chino Hills. In previous storms, people living in the washes have been swept out and killed in the floodwaters.
The Ontario Fire Department and the Ontario Police Department have been trying to reach out to people who live along the wash and offering them inclement weather vouchers for hotel rooms, according to Ontario Fire Department Battalion Chief Bobby Johnson.
Officials made contact with two people living in the Cucamonga wash on New Year’s Eve and offered them vouchers, but they declined and said they would move out of the wash before the oncoming storm.
During a storm in November, multiple people were swept out from the West Cucamonga Channel, which flows into a nearby catch basin. Five were rescued and three died in the floodwaters.
Johnson said crews are going to the three washes Wednesday afternoon.
“They’re seeing if there’s any homeless in the wash and [will] say, ‘We have pretty serious rains that are coming, and we’d like you guys to get to safety,’” he said.
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