City prepares for wet winter

Moreno Valley is getting an early jump on El Nino.

The city is asking for volunteers to help prepare for expected heavy floods this winter, said Matt Mahaffey, the city’s emergency management specialist.

Moreno Valley’s Office of Emergency Management and Volunteer Services hopes to persuade 50 to 60 people to volunteer for various duties, including filling sandbags, stacking them in areas likely to flood and, if needed, conducting preliminary damage assessment.

All volunteers will be trained in advance.

To be eligible, an applicant must be at least 18 years old and have earned a high school diploma or its equivalent. They must also possess a valid California driver’s license and automobile insurance, and must not have any serious convictions or multiple convictions of minor offenses.

Applications are available at moval.org.

“Our job is to prepare and be proactive, and that’s what we’re trying to do here,” Mahaffey said. “This is a pre-emptive strike, in case the floods are as bad as some say they will be.”

Weather officials are predicting the wettest winter in California in years, with a growing El Nino condition raising the chances of consistent heavy rains late this year and into next year to above 90 percent, according to some estimates.