Today, Governor Newsom signed a statewide emergency proclamation directing California agencies to begin flood preparations, stage critical supplies, and coordinate with local partners before the El Niño season intensifies.
Federal forecasters put the odds of a very strong event this fall and winter at greater than 90%, with a 75% chance it could reach historic strength — potentially surpassing any El Niño in recorded history.
The emergency declaration gives state agencies authority to move faster on flood-risk reduction, streamline environmental permitting, and pre-position equipment like sandbags, pumps, and snow-removal machinery along the highways most at risk. Caltrans will stage traffic-control and road-closure equipment on vulnerable corridors, and the California National Guard has been placed on standby to support flood response, search-and-rescue, and logistics missions as conditions develop.
A study published last month in the journal Science found that El Niño events are now more than 36% stronger than before the industrial era, a trend that has accelerated over the past 40 years as global temperatures rise. For California, this could result in repeated rounds of heavy rain, mountain snow, coastal flooding, landslides, and debris flows, particularly when major storms coincide with high tides.
The Governor’s Office of Emergency Services has been directed to expand multilingual public communications covering flooding, evacuation readiness, power outages, and emergency alerts ahead of the season.
What Bay Area and California residents should do now
In preparation for El Niño, Californians should sign up for local emergency alerts, assess whether your home or workplace sits in a flood-prone or post-wildfire area, clear gutters and drains, keep an emergency kit stocked, and have an evacuation plan ready. Authorities also stress a simple rule for drivers: never attempt to cross flooded roads, regardless of how shallow the water appears.
According to KQED‘s recent interview with climate reporter Ezra David Romero, a “Super El Niño” could have the strongest effect in low-lying waterfront areas, such as neighborhoods near San Rafael Creek and Highway 101 in San Rafael, Pacifica’s erosion-prone coastline, Alameda’s island neighborhoods, and San Francisco’s seawall-protected downtown. Many Bay Area communities are preparing for flooding and climate events in these areas.
Residents can sign up for local emergency alerts and find flood-risk information through their county’s Office of Emergency Services or the state’s Cal OES website.