In today's newscast:
Preparing for a strong El Niño
The local governments in Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz counties are preparing for a particularly strong El Niño season.
Folks are bracing for a winter with heavier rains and wind, and potential flooding or power outages.
Last Wednesday, the city of Monterey hosted the season’s first town hall to share how they are preparing for the upcoming rainy season.
Andrea Renny, public works director for the city of Monterey, said they are cleaning storm drains, headwalls, culverts and waterways to prevent flooding.
“ We do the same type of preparation because we just really never know the scale of the storm, so we prepare every time as if it's a big storm, it's just we have more awareness this time," said Renny.
Monterey's Assistant City Manager Nat Rojanasathira is urging residents to check the city’s storm center website.
“ We keep that webpage updated minute by minute — people want information, that's where they can go," said Rojanasathira.
Residents can also sign up for text and email alerts from their county through CruzAware, or SBCAlert, and AlertMontereyCounty.
Salinas candidate forum
The League of Women Voters is hosting a candidate forum at Hartnell College in Salinas tonight at 6 p.m.
The first half will focus on the mayoral race. Four candidates are running — current mayor Dennis Donohue, student Hezekiah Gonzalez, retired educator Peter Szalai and construction worker Daniel Muñoz.
After a short break, the forum will pivot to the seven candidates running for three City Council seats. Districts 2, 3 and 5 are contested races. This means that all council incumbents — Tony Barrera, Margaret D’Arrigo and Andrew Sandoval — will face challengers.
English to Spanish interpretation will be available for attendees.
