WALNUT GROVE, Calif. — New Hope Landing RV Park bared the brunt of Northern California's latest atmospheric river, resulting in flooding and residents to prepare for the next series of upcoming storms.
At this Walnut Grove trailer park, Sheri Schermerhorn has her pick-up packed and is ready for the worst.
"I got my gas, extra gas and my blankets. I'm better now that we lived through the first one, but we're on watch everyday, all day waiting to see," said Schermerhorn.
Waiting to see if the South Fork of the Mokelumne River, just yards from her trailer, overflows it's banks again. It flooded trailers not pulled from the park.
"It's sad. And, the sad thing is it happened over the holidays so any of these trailers you see out here where people are living they were out of town," said Walnut Grove resident Mitch Jorgensen.
Jorgensen lived at the New Hope RV Park for a year, but less than a month ago, he moved his RV to a different park. Still, he remains just yards from the river.
"Basically, if this levee that we're standing on right now developed a leak and broke, the rest of us could be wiped out," said Jorgensen.
With the upcoming series of storms, emergency officials are keeping a close eye on the Delta.
When rivers like the Mokelumne rise to a certain level, 24-hour patrols go into effect.
"The dam operators and the reservoirs. They weren't full a couple days ago they're starting to fill up fairly quickly. So, just making sure if they are going to start making releases on top of the storms that we're seeing that we just coordinate with everybody," said Tiffany Heyer, spokesperson for the San Joaquin County Office of Emergency Services.
At Wimpy's Cafe and Restaurant along the Mokelumne River, manager Annette Palmer has fans set up to dry her office and storage area. They too were flooded this past weekend.
"Luckily, we had a little bit of a warning so we were able to get everything to higher ground, but there's not really much you can do to stop it," said Palmer.
Bottom line, officials say be ready no matter where you live.
The San Joaquin OES says to learn more on how to be ready, go to their social media pages and their website, SJREADY.ORG.
