San Joaquin delta communities prepare for potential record-breaking El Niño – CBS News

San Joaquin delta communities prepare for potential record-breaking El Niño  CBS News

It's a memory seared into the minds of many Walnut Grove residents: the massive flooding of 1986."In the '80s, there was a really bad one," Walnut Grove resident Christine Saunters said. "The levee broke and wiped out a lot of businesses. It was really bad, really sad."Multiple levees broke across the region that year, affecting thousands of people."You wanted to help but you couldn't do much," Saunters said. "They had people in little boats right into their business to get stuff out of it. It was really sad."Emily Pappalardo, a principal engineer with Tule Engineering, was born and raised in Walnut Grove and remembers the impact as well."This was one of the biggest floods we'd had in a flood season in my lifetime," Pappalardo said.Now, Pappalardo is working with state and local officials to prepare the Delta for what could be a record-breaking El Niño storm season.She said the preparation process starts well before the rain arrives, including reviewing emergency plans, checking flood-fighting supplies and making sure equipment can be deployed quickly."With the predictions, they look more convincing maybe than other years, but we always prepare the same way," Pappalardo said.

"Basically reviewing our emergency plans, making sure we have all our flood fight supplies accessible and inventory to know what we have."With Gov. Gavin Newsom's state of emergency declaration,