{"id":472435,"date":"2026-09-22T23:48:35","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T23:48:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/472435\/"},"modified":"2026-09-22T23:48:35","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T23:48:35","slug":"newsom-declares-emergency-for-kern-county-ahead-of-powerful-el-nino-storm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/472435\/","title":{"rendered":"Newsom declares emergency for Kern County ahead of powerful El Ni\u00f1o storm"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kern County is included in a statewide emergency declaration<\/a> as California braces for what could be one of the strongest El Ni\u00f1o<\/a> events on record, with forecasters warning the coming winter storm season could bring significant impacts.<\/p>\n

Gov. Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency<\/a> to help California prepare for a powerful El Ni\u00f1o system headed toward the state. The declaration includes Kern County.<\/p>\n

The last large El Ni\u00f1o came in the winter of 1997-98, and experts say this one is shaping up to be bigger. Carlos Molina, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service, said the 1997-98 El Ni\u00f1o caused extensive damage and that the upcoming winter could be worse.<\/p>\n

\u201cLooks like a lot of the analysis that we\u2019ve been looking at, we look at the Ocean Nino index or the ONI,\u201d Molina said.<\/p>\n

The 1997 storm had a rating of 2.8 degrees Celsius. Molina said current measurements are already higher as the season approaches.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, as we approach October and we are already seeing that value reach up to 3 degrees Celsius,\u201d Molina said.<\/p>\n

In Kern County, the fire department said it had already been preparing ahead of Newsom\u2019s proclamation, noting September is National Preparedness Month.<\/a> Jeremy Ruiz said the department can adjust staffing and resources as conditions change.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not only staying up with our department staffing levels when we have those meetings that are called. For a weather event we can elevate our staffing levels to specific areas as needed,\u201d Ruiz said.<\/p>\n

Ruiz urged residents to make sure they can receive emergency notifications and to understand how their location could be affected during severe weather.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have notifications in place through Genasys Protect.<\/a> We have zones in our county. The best thing people can do is to be aware of their local typography, their local zone that\u2019s going to be impacted during a weather event,\u201d Ruiz said.<\/p>\n

Officials advised residents to sign up for alerts,<\/a> know their flood risk by finding out whether their area is flood-prone, and stay informed by monitoring forecasts and enrolling in emergency alerts from their city or county. They also recommended having an evacuation plan, packing a bag, and keeping an emergency kit ready. Drivers are urged never to drive through floodwater and to turn around and find another route.<\/p>\n

Newsom said preparation for El Ni\u00f1o starts now because every Californian deserves to be safe in their home, connected to their community and protected when severe weather comes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kern County is included in a statewide emergency declaration as California braces for what could be one of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":472436,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":["post-472435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=472435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472435\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/472436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}