FIREBAUGH, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – Fresno County continued its flood preparations along the San Joaquin River in Firebaugh Wednesday, as federal resources arrived at the Fresno County Fairgrounds.
County workers in the city teamed up with Cal Fire and Cal O.E.S. Wednesday to finish up the sandbagging.
In total, the county placed approximately 50,000 sandbags in the area.
We’re told they are needed to protect the city from possible floods.
“We have cameras down on the levees so that we can watch in real-time, we have different markers that we can watch the, you know, the water rise and decrease, which we are watching, and so far everything is holding steady out there,” said Terri Mejorado, Emergency Manager for the Fresno County Office of Emergency Services.
Though Fresno County has seen encouraging signs, the scene was a frightening one in Firebaugh Wednesday.
High water crept into areas of the city, like at Andrew Firebaugh Historical Park.
As the river continued to creep higher alongside the Firebaugh Riverfront Inn, one of the most fortified areas.
Many people in Firebaugh told us they were not too concerned, but the county continued to preach preparedness.
“From one side of the county to the other, just be very, very aware of your surroundings and just understand that things can literally change in seconds,” said Mejorado.
To help with whatever could happen, 16 trailers full of supplies from FEMA were ready to go at the Fresno County Fairgrounds, which could either be used to shelter roughly 20,000 for at least three days or could be moved to other counties.
As for damage assistance funding like that seen in January in February…
“This has taken a little bit longer of a process and there is no guarantee we will get funding at the end of the day, but we have to try,” said Mejorado.
If you have experienced flood damage, the county asks that people fill out the FEMA damage survey.
That will be sent to the state, to ultimately apply for that federal funding for relief.
You can find a link to the survey here.
