Tijuana prepares for El Niño, which the city says could hit harder from late November

Tijuana’s city government estimates that El Niño could start hitting the region harder between the last week of November and early December, and on Monday it used a session of its standing emergency committee, the Mesa Permanente de Preparación y Respuesta, to line up its departments for the season, El Imparcial and Uniradio Informa reported on Nov. 2. Mayor Ismael Burgueño Ruiz led the meeting at City Hall. Neither report gave rainfall figures or said where the estimate came from.

What the city says it’s doing

• Civil protection is monitoring active landslides, touring the delegaciones (boroughs) ahead of the rains and running a prevention campaign on social media and in community sessions.
• Public works and public services crews are cleaning out storm drains and roads.
• The city’s welfare department (Bienestar) keeps staff on emergency duty and organizes cleanups of neighborhoods, public spaces and green areas, with the DIF family agency also taking part.
• The boroughs office says it has picked out priority neighborhoods for preventive work and has machinery ready.

“This is permanent work that requires everyone’s commitment and participation,” Burgueño said, according to both reports.

What residents are asked to do

Keep storm drains and drainage channels clear of trash and debris, pack an emergency backpack and agree on a family plan, the city said. The reports didn’t list shelters or phone numbers. Before the storm of Oct. 31, the city opened two temporary shelters, which we listed in an earlier update, and our October story covers what forecasters have said about this winter.

If you’re visiting this week

No storm is on the horizon for now. San Diego Red’s Nov. 1 outlook, citing Meteored, showed a 30% chance of rain on Tuesday and Thursday and a warm-up toward the weekend, reaching about 31 °C (88 °F) on Sunday. If you’re planning beach days or drives later in the month, check the forecast and our alert kit before you go.