Peninsula residents preparing for more flooding, power outages as Tuesday's storm approaches

EAST PALO ALTO, Calif. - With another atmospheric river headed to the Bay Area on Tuesday, people living on the Peninsula are once again bracing themselves for high winds and heavy rain that could bring down trees, power lines and cause possible flooding.  

Near the bank of the San Francisquito Creek crews have placed dozens of sandbags along this bank to try and prevent this area from flooding again and Pacific Gas & Electric says it'll have additional crews in this area.

"Yeah it was soaked everywhere. It was muddy. It was really, really crazy. It was crazy. I’ve never seen something like that," said Edwin, who lives in apartments just across the street from the Creek.   

Residents near the San Francisquito Creek say since the series of atmospheric river storms began to hit the Peninsula, they’ve been doing what they can to get ready for each storm headed their way.   

"We’re prepared. We have lamps, we have other sources of energy. We charge our chargers for phones for emergencies. That definitely made us like wake up and be prepared," Edwin said.   

On Tuesday, another atmospheric river is expected to bring high winds, heavy rain and possible flooding, with the greatest impact felt on the Peninsula and in the South Bay. PG&E says it’s already mobilizing its crews and preparing to get to the hardest hit areas first.  

"And so we are bringing crews from areas that are expected to be less impacted, bringing them over to those areas, so we have as much man power behind this as possible. Our crews will be working around the clock until every last customer is restored," said Tamar Sarkissian, PG&E Spokesperson.   

Thousands of homes in East Palo Alto were left without power for nearly three days last month after rain and strong winds took down trees and power lines during the storm.  

"We have staff members that are in the field. They’ve been cleaning out storm drains. Cleaning out debris and really trying to prepare the community for this rainstorm," said Lisa Gauthier, East Palo Alto mayor. 

SEE ALSO: Threat of high winds accompany Tuesday's atmospheric river

Last week, residents met with PG&E to voice their frustrations about the outages and the lack of communication from the utility company. Mayor Gauthier says residents need to prepare as much as they can.  

"We always want to remind community members, we know that emergencies happen, but as somebody who sits on the Emergency Board, the first 72 (hours) are on you, so we’re encouraging individuals, if you know a storm is coming, make sure you have blankets, you have medication, and you have the things that you need to get through this storm," Gauthier said. 

Winds in this area could reach 50 mph so if a tree or power line comes down, do not call 9-1-1. People should report it to PG&E, and assume that any downed power line is live and should not be touched.