Riverside County maintains wash areas ahead of potential flooding from storms

Riverside County is prepping the wash area for any potential flooding ahead of the weekend storms.

“We will be monitoring the event and have teams out in the field looking for problems trying to stay on top of the issues before they can become problems for the community," said Jason Uhley, the General Manager of the Riverside County Flood Control & Water Conservation District.

With a potential storm heading for the Coachella Valley, Uhley tells us the washes typically get a lot of that rain flowing through it.

“I think the most important thing is to remember the power of water," he said. "Tell people to expect the washes stay stay away from moving water. Don't be in or near washes.”

Uhley says that fast moving water and debris is dangerous, for both people and cars.

To make it safer, he says the county clears out debris basins and storm drains year-round.

“In some cases, we have concrete channels. So we make sure that the concrete channels are clear and ready to go. In other cases, we have channels that do have earthen bottoms, where we do some maintenance of the brush to make sure that they're clear and ready for storm events," Uhley explained.

The county takes care of the washes west of Cathedral City, while the Coachella Valley Water District takes care of areas east of it.

Uhley says they’re not only prepping ahead of storms, but they keep up maintenance even after it passes.

“Storm events can also bring down vegetation and other things and jump out of channels. The cleanup for that is a shared responsibility. And so our flood control district gets in and make sure we're resetting all of our channels and cleaning that up," he said. "There is a coordinated response that will include many levels of government depending on on how significant the issues are.”

Uhley urges people to also prepare there homes ahead of potential flooding.

"If you happen to have drainage courses that run through your property, make sure they're cleared and ready to accept water... if you have a property where you maybe have had to use sandbags in the past to protect yourself, you know, have the sandbags on hand," Uhley added.

All CalFire stations provide empty sandbags. You can find the list here.