Tips for preparing for the wet winter ahead from the County of San Mateo

If you were here for the January 2023 storms, you remember the flooding, downed trees, and outages across the county. If you weren’t, now is the time to learn your risk.

Forecasters expect a very strong El Niño this winter, which raises the odds of heavy rain and high tide flooding in San Mateo County. And flooding doesn’t follow lines on a map: where it can rain, it can flood.

Before the first storm:
• LOOK UP your evacuation zone at protect.genasys.com and write it down.
• CHECK your address on FEMA’s flood map at msc.fema.gov.
• ASK a longtime neighbor where water collects on your street.

Knowing your zone means you’ll know right away when an alert is for you.

A roadway near the Dumbarton Bridge was flooded in 2023 as the result of  King Tides. Photo by Robb Most (c) 2023