By Mary O’KEEFE

Like most Californians, Crescenta Valley and Glendale residents are preparing for El Niño. The City of Glendale has developed a website that will hopefully answer questions and concerns of the predicted upcoming weather change.

El Niño is defined as above-normal sea surface temperatures in the area of the equator in the Pacific Ocean. It is expected that this El Niño could rank among the top three strongest since 1950, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

On the city website is information from NOAA and other agencies on the subject of El Niño including where to find sandbags and even how to fill them properly.

“It provides all of our emergency notifications and social media [information],” said Brandy Villanueva, Glendale Fire Department public information officer.

It also features information for the communities of Burbank and Pasadena with resources including city and some Los Angeles County agencies.

“Our number one goal was to have a one stop shopping [area] for all of these agencies,” Villanueva said.

The idea behind the website was to gather information from the different cities including fire, police, public information officers and city managers and to share that information with residents in the fastest possible way, Villanueva said.

Glendale staff has planned a series of community meetings to help residents navigate the website. One of those meetings will be held at the Center for Spiritual Living, 4845 Dunsmore Ave. The date and time have yet to be finalized, according to Villa.

To explore the city’s website, visit www.elninoready.org.

The city did not include information for the county portion of La Crescenta. That information can be found at www.lacounty.gov.

  Mary Okeefe