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Mayor Garcetti Says He Has A Plan To Deal With El Nino

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com)  —   Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti says he has a plan to deal with the coming El Nino.

Garcetti said Friday, don't worry, the city is prepared.

KCAL9's Amber Lee found plenty of people Friday who were and a few who were not.

Lee asked Susan Cruz, a Monterey Park resident if she was ready.

"Not really. I'm just going to see what's going to go on and what happens," said Cruz.

But Art Schleider of Carson is ready.

"I just put a $7,400 roof on my house about two weeks ago," said Schleider. "You gotta be prepared."

Garcetti on Friday signed an executive directive to reassure Angelenos the city is prepared and safeguarding the community.

"The rain that we can expect," said Garcetti, "can lead to flooding, mudslides, coastal erosion, we can see streets lost, homes gone."

El Nino conditions
(credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

The mayor talked about staying ahead of the powerful weather phenomenon -- from organizing task forces to holding town hall meetings.

Garcetto also discussed another first for Los Angeles. The city has reached a deal with cellphone providers to share bandwidth during an emergency.

The plan will create a new emergency notification system for LA residents who sign up to get real time alerts if a natural disaster occurs in their area. Alerts will include voice, text or email.

Even with all these precautions and plans in place, there are still people who are skeptical about El Nino and the punch it might pack.

"It's probably not that big of a deal," said one man, "It never really rains that much in California."

To sign up for the city's El Nino Early Warning System, click here.

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