Update: Tijuana readies El Niño operations center; civil protection now eyes the second week of December

Tijuana is getting ready for a wet El Niño winter. Mayor Ismael Burgueño Ruiz said the city is preparing a control and operations center, the Centro de Control y Operaciones, to run its emergency response during the rainy season, bringing together the municipal police, firefighters, civil protection and other departments, Punto Norte reported on Nov. 4 after a meeting where each agency presented its contingency plan. Burgueño said the center would follow the response and make the decisions needed to protect Tijuana’s families.

What’s being prepared

• A special municipal police group trained for immediate response, and coordinated evacuations in case of floods or landslides (Punto Norte).
• A review of each agency’s capacity, the areas at risk, possible road closures and alternate routes (Punto Norte).
• Temporary shelters with doctors, nurses and psychologists, medicine and medical equipment, plus protocols to rescue pets during evacuations and care for them in the shelters (Punto Norte).
• Interagency meetings every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 6 a.m., and brigades on maximum alert, watching the Vía Rápida Poniente and Oriente, storm channels and hillside neighborhoods with a history of landslides, said Sergio Pérez, acting head of municipal civil protection (Tijuana en Línea, Tijuana Última Hora).

The timing has shifted

When the city’s preparedness committee met on Nov. 2, it estimated that El Niño could start hitting harder in the last week of November or early December (our story). On Wednesday, Pérez, who described this year’s event as a reinforced El Niño, said forecasts point to the most intense conditions starting in the second week of December, and that operational staff will stay available through Christmas and New Year’s if needed, according to Tijuana en Línea and Tijuana Última Hora. Any formal emergency declaration would come from the mayor, he said. None of the reports gave rainfall figures, and shelter locations haven’t been published.

What it means if you’re visiting

If you’re planning December trips for posadas or the holidays, watch the forecast in the days before you travel, allow extra time on the Vía Rápida when storms hit, since the city is planning for possible road closures, and keep our alert kit handy for where to check weather, border waits and emergency numbers.