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By Supervisor Ray Mueller
On Oct. 20, the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors proclaimed a local emergency for the coming El Niño season. Please don’t be alarmed, yet. No storm is bearing down on us today. What we have instead is something emergency managers rarely get: time, and a strong signal about the winter ahead. We’re choosing to respond to both.
Here’s the frank truth about this winter. We’ve spent months working with weather and climate experts up and down the West Coast, and we’ll keep working with them all season. None of them can tell us exactly what this El Niño will bring to San Mateo County. It could deliver the steady rain that refills our reservoirs and aquifers and carries us through the dry years that always return. That’s the winter we’re hoping for. It could also bring storms that arrive faster than our hillsides, creeks and shoreline can absorb them.
When the range of outcomes is that wide, we don’t plan for the middle. That’s the work of emergency management: We prepare for the worst so all of us can take smart, practical steps now. We aren’t willing to gamble with your safety, your family’s safety, or your neighbor’s.
The proclamation is how we organize for that. It tells every county department, every city and every partner agency that this season requires us to plan and prepare differently. It also establishes an El Niño Readiness Taskforce led by Dr. Shruti Dhapodkar, director of San Mateo County Emergency Management. The taskforce brings our departments together with cities and partner agencies so readiness is coordinated across the whole county rather than handled one office at a time.
This is about readiness. We’re asking every department to work as one county, so that when residents need us, we’re already in position. If we get this right, people will remember this winter as hard weather they got through, not a crisis that upended their lives.
Some things we can say with confidence. Our highest tides of the year, known as king tides, arrive around Nov. 24 to 26, Dec. 22 to 25 and Jan. 20 to 23. Those windows overlap with Thanksgiving, Christmas and the start of the new school year, when many of us travel and welcome family and visitors to the county. A strong storm landing on top of a king tide is the scenario we’re planning around. So as you make holiday plans, build in a backup. Know which days carry higher risk, watch the forecast, and be willing to be flexible so you aren’t on the roads when conditions turn.
While this is unusual, if you are person with access and functional needs, or a senior living in the unincorporated San Mateo Coastside, if you are considering traveling to visit loved ones this holiday season, it may be a good time to do so. If a winter storm hits during the king tides, we may see powerful waves and ocean levels not previously recorded in San Mateo County that could adversely impact Highway 1 travel routes. We are doing everything we can to prepare for these scenarios, but feel it’s incumbent to share the information so you can prepare as well.
We also know power and connectivity may be disrupted at points this winter. Phones run down, cell towers lose power, and the internet you count on for news may not be there when you want it most. Plan as though your household will need to manage a few days without either.
Here’s what we’re asking of everyone this week. Sign up for SMC Alert at smcalert.org so official warnings can reach you directly.
This is the beginning of hearing from us, not the end. Over the coming weeks the county will share guidance on preparing yourself, your home, your family and your community. You’ll hear it through our partners in law enforcement, fire and EMS, from city managers, city councils and your elected officials, and on the county website under “Emergency Services.” Those resources are there so you can feel confident heading into whatever comes next.
Preparedness doesn’t only happen in an emergency operations center. It happens in kitchens and garages, in break rooms and classrooms, on the block where you live. If each of us uses this window well, the best version of this winter is within reach: enough rain to sustain us, and a county ready for anything more.
Ray Mueller is vice president of the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors and chair of the San Mateo County Emergency Services Council.
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