Oceanside CA—North County Transit District (NCTD) has been working for the last three months to prepare NCTD facilities for the strengthening El Niño storm system in the Pacific Ocean. This weather pattern has the potential to become one of the most powerful on record, according to weather forecasters. El Niño could bring extremely intense storms to the West Coast during the winter of 2015-2016.
- trimming trees to reduce the likelihood of falling tree limbs;
- stockpiling and staging key supplies such as sandbags, rail ballast and storm water filtration rolls;
- reserving back-up equipment such as flatbed trucks for laying ballast and sandbags;
- cleaning and protecting drainage facilities to prevent flooding and reduce storm water pollution; and
- purchasing sump pumps and additional power generators to limit the impacts of flooding and power loss
“Our goal is to be as El Niño Ready as possible and to minimize storm and flooding impacts on our public transit facilities that could disrupt transit services for the public”, said Matthew Tucker, NCTD’s Executive Director. “If the El Niño visits San Diego with the intensity expected, there will be flooding and erosion that will disrupt our operations but our goal is to be prepared and minimize the impacts of El Niño winter storms on transit riders.”