Small SF neighborhood taking no chances as storm approaches, preps for flooding

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- San Francisco's Public Works crews were busy today, getting ready for the approaching storm. They cleaned out storm drains, stocked up on sandbags and asked residents to rake leaves around their property.

Meantime, residents from a small low ground neighborhood are taking no chances.

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"I'm so helpless. Every time I get flooded. My home gets flooded," said Victoria Sanchez who lives in a small neighborhood that dead ends at Highway 280.

Sandbags are an integral part of life in Sanchez's neighborhood. So much so that City trucks bring pallets of sandbags everytime it's about to rain. They were back again this week.

The last big flood in the neighborhood was in 2014. a torrential force of raw sewage and storm water rushed through Cayuga Avenue over cars, flooding homes and garages-- shooting out from clogged catch basins.

The flooding has gone on for decades. So have the cleanups.

"The walls get all flooded. We have to get the sheetrock. Take it off because that mold is in there," said Sanchez.

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Sanchez knows we all need rain, but her photo album reminds her how destructive it can be.

"It floods everything. You can see in my book how bad it gets."

Many of Sanchez's neighbors couldn't take it anymore. She points from home to home.

"He sold his house. She sold her home. And my other neighbor..."

Sanchez and many of her new neighbors are taking no chances. Sandbags are neatly arranged around homes. This, as the City's public works crews were dispatched Tuesday to clear storm drains.

At the operation yard free sandbags are there for residents to pick up-- and a plea to the public.

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Jennifer Blott spokesperson from SF Public Works said, "Any fallen leaves, if you can just sweep them up. Put them in a compost bin."

Sanchez says the City has tried to help with little success. All she can do, she says, as the storm approaches, "I just got to pray. And I hope I don't get flooded again."