With high surf and rain projections predicted with this coming storm, there are some concerns about the Oceano Dunes area because of what happened a year ago.
“Last year was insane,” Roberto Torres Sandoval said.
Sandoval has been living in the RVs in pacific dunes ranch for a year and is hopeful that the upcoming storm won't be anything like it was last year around this time.
“I remember my mom telling me ‘hey you should move your car because it looks like it’s getting flooded out here a little but and then an hour or two hours later that's when things started going haywire and water started coming in. More people were getting evacuated and people were getting told hey move your trailer,” Sandoval said.
He told me this year the property manager and the county have been more proactive about the storms:
“They've been more on patrol about the whole situation of what happened. The county consistently works here and gets notifications like hey there's a big storm coming so be prepared".
Last year Sandoval ended up having to stay in his car for three days after he evacuated and now he will be more equipped with what to do if another storm hits.
“We can be prepared as we want or the county can do whatever they want but mother nature takes its course,” Sandoval said.
According to State Parks, Camping reservations are canceled at Oceano Dunes through Wed. with approximately 37 reservation holders being affected since Jan. 31. reservation holders will be contacted by reserve California and be provided full refunds.
David Jaworski lives in Arroyo Grande and shares his experience from last year's storm.
“There's been too much build up from the farm fields near me and so I did some digging around there to allow the water to flow instead of pile up,” Jaworski said.
This year he has taken safety precautions before the storms strike.
“I didn't want the winds to take down a tree in my house plus the flooding gets pretty bad around here,” Jaworski said.
Day use access, for daily visitors to Oceano Dunes SVRA and Pismo State Beach, will be monitored by staff and adjusted as coastal and creek conditions allow.
