Congressman Raul Ruiz has a message for the community as he shovels sandbags in Indio

Indio's sandbag pickup filled the city's parking lot with people preparing for Hilary. Officials say they handed out over 50,000 sandbags.

Congressman Dr. Raul Ruiz was in the crowd helping residents fill up bags for their homes.

He says his entire staff is in different emergency management meetings from Riverside, Imperial,  and San Bernardino counties.

Ruiz says he is shoveling to take bags to his mother's home but also for the community that he loves and grew up in.

He's urged the Coachella Valley residents to do the same and look out for others. "We're not experienced in hurricanes living in this desert," says the Congressmen of the 25th District, Dr. Raul Ruiz. "I've never experienced something like this growing up here. So this is when we need to pay attention to the experts. The other thing I really need to let the community know is if you know of a senior, an elder, or somebody who has difficulty moving from one place or another or lives alone, go reach out to them and help them. This is the time to do that."

The Congressman says the county is starting to move generators into locations like the fairgrounds, the Desert Mirage High School, and other locations with the red cross to be prepared for evacuations.

Currently, none of our cities in the valley are being asked to evacuate.