How to prepare for the rest of Monsoon season
After last week’s monsoonal storm brought flooding and damages to parts of Mecca and Thermal, residents are preparing for what the rest of the season could bring.
“When cars drive by here you can’t even see their tires,” said Hector Alvardo, one Mecca resident who experienced the storm.
Alvardo knows all too well what happens when a monsoon storm hits.
“We couldn’t go out the door because there was just water there,” Alvardo said.
News Channel 3 met with Shane Reichardt with the County of Riverside Emergency Management Department to learn some tips for how to stay safe during monsoon season.
“Don’t go near any power lines,” Reichardt said. “If you see water in the roadway don’t cross. We remind you all the time to turn around don’t drown and it’s really important.”
One of Alvardo’s neighbors described last week’s storm as feeling like a hurricane.
“It was chaos to be honest. Something that happened so fast,” Ricardo Monroy, another resident in Mecca told News Channel 3.
This can be a common occurrence with summertime thunderstorms.
“You want to have a minimum supply of three to seven days. That includes food, stuff that is shelf stable that doesn’t expire and you want to have at least a gallon of water per person per day plus whatever you need for animals and cooking and cleaning,” Reichardt said.
A big tip most people forget happens when the power goes out.
“You want to make sure you keep the refrigerator door shut. It can take as little as four hours to start to go bad,” Reichardt said.
But the biggest thing is being able to help spread the word about the storm.
“During a disaster, it’s really important that we reach people. A lot of people don’t have a landline at home anymore so we need a way to reach them on their cellular phone.”
Reichardt strongly urges you to sign up online at: https://rivcoready.org/alertrivco for emergency alerts send to your phone.
