Sandbagging operations continue: How to build the perfect sandbag to protect your home

Community sandbagging operations continued Saturday around the Coachella Valley.

People of all ages were working together to fill sandbags for themselves and helping the elderly and others at one sandbagging site just outside the Rancho Mirage Public Library.

In some cases, they were aided by new friends they met at the site as everybody shared a common goal of keeping their properties dry and safe from the storm.

"Everybody's really been helpful to everyone else," said Barb Crum of Rancho Mirage adding, "like this gentleman is helping to hold the bag for someone else. Hopefully, we won't need it."

The unusual sight of cars lining up and so many people filling bags of sand was hard not to notice. "I never thought I'd see it in the desert," said Crum who added it was a more common sight to see when she lived along the Mississippi River.

Landy Borrego of Cathedral City filled 24 sandbags for his mother's home. "There's a low spot in front of her house," Borrego said. "Hopefully, we won't need them. Hopefully, my sciatic nerve will be on fire for nothing, but we'll see," Borrego added.

Here are some tips for building the perfect sandbag barrier.

Experts say your sandbags should be two-thirds full of sand, folded at the top, and then stacked like bricks in a brick wall.

They should be overlapping one another over their opening folds.

That will work best at keeping more water out.