Rain is on the way to the Bay Area, and in the South Bay, maintenance workers this week were out in full force, taking measures to prevent possible flooding.
Crews in San Jose were cleaning out catch basins under grates in the streets because if they become clogged, the rain water can’t get down the drain and through the catch basin, leading flooding.
When asked how many grates per day are cleaned, worker Greg Martinez said between 80 and 100.
The San Jose’s Department of Transportation says storm prep is something it works on all year, and the catch basin cleaning started in early summer. There are 32,000 catch basins across the city, and all of them will be cleaned by mid-December, the city said.
"In the downtown area and sensitive areas like Alviso, we’ll actually go through and do a second round of cleaning," transportation spokesman Colin Heyne said.
Meanwhile, at Stevens Creek, surveyors and workers from the Santa Clara Valley Water District were busy clearing out debris and other trash so it doesn’t become like a dam, sending water into streets and homes if the rain gets heavy.
"Sometimes in the first rain, there’s more runoff than normal, there might be more debris or pollution," said Gary Kremen of the water district. "Think of it as debugging the creeks."
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The city of San Jose said it will have crews on standby in case any high water or flooding calls come in.
