MONTEREY, Cali. - People on the peninsula are preparing for the worst, but hoping for the best. They're already feeling whipping winds, and seeing strong waves. Fire and police departments along with other local agencies are doing what they can to help prepare and protect residents from the storm. Emergency operations centers throughout the area are ready to be activated if this turns out to be a serious event.
"A lot of people have come in, there's been people asking for gravel, rock, bark, anything they can cover up hillsides and protect their homes from being washed away," says landscape business owner, Steve McShane.
People across the central coast spent the day getting ready, but so have emergency workers along the coast. Agencies added extra staff for the storm heading in this week. The Monterey Fire Department says it's been monitoring the weather for the past week.
"We've contacted the city management to make sure we have the appropriate officials notified and staffed up two additional companies so that we have extra capacity in the system in case we have multiple emergencies running at the same time," says Jim Brown with the Monterey Fire Department.
At the same time, police and fire departments are keeping at eye on the ocean water activity near Pacific Grove.
"We have stop signs in place in case the lights go out and will monitor the beach front in case the water levels become high," says Richard Sinclair Jr. with the Pacific Grove Police Department.
"If it looks like the storm surge is going to come in and affect the turnouts in Pacific Grove, then we'll be looking at shutting down those to protect the public," says Brown.
In case of multiple problems, police departments have emergency operation centers ready to go.
"The E.O.C's will be activated if we have multiple events running at the same time for the cities of Pacific Grove, Monterey, and Carmel. If that does happen, then we'll have appropriate staffing come in to monitor events that occur," says Brown.
Emergency workers say they will notify residents and businesses if the weather becomes a major threat. They will also provide sandbags and other supplies to residents if needed.
