How to Check Your Flood Risk and Sign Up for Emergency Alerts Before El Niño Hits California
If you live in California, this fall and winter is a good time to actually check your flood risk instead of assuming it doesn’t apply to you. Governor Newsom’s state of emergency, proclaimed to prepare for a forecast El Niño event, specifically calls on residents to check their flood risk and sign up for emergency alerts ahead of the severe weather season.
Why this matters now
Federal forecasters cited in the proclamation put the odds of a very strong El Niño event this fall and winter at over 90%, with a 75% chance it reaches historic strength. The state’s preparedness push — from staging sandbags and pumps to positioning Caltrans equipment — is built around that forecast, and the individual-level version of that same preparedness is checking your own risk and making sure you’ll actually get warned in time.
🔎 Check your flood risk
The proclamation doesn’t specify a single tool or website for checking flood risk — it directs residents to check their risk without naming a specific portal in the material available here. The most reliable next step is to look at the official announcement linked below and follow whatever flood-risk resource the state or your local county points to from there, since that’s where any specific tool or map would be listed.
📅 Sign up for alerts
Similarly, the proclamation directs Cal OES to expand multilingual public communications covering severe weather, flooding, emergency alerts, evacuation readiness, and power outages — but the source material doesn’t list a specific sign-up link or phone number here. Check your county’s emergency alert system (many California counties run their own opt-in alert programs) and the state’s official channels for the actual enrollment step.
⚠️ Because this is exactly the kind of detail that gets added or updated as the season approaches, it’s worth checking the official proclamation page directly rather than relying on a secondhand summary for the specific sign-up links.
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