 Up next in this edition of OES News in Depth, we're going to take a look at how recent storms are impacting communities all around Northern California. We're also going to take a look at how state officials are coordinating with locals to manage those impacts, as well as what water managers are doing to prevent a major catastrophe. We'll have all that and more coming up next in this edition of OES News in Depth. Hello everyone, I'm Sean Boyd in the Cal OES Newsroom. Thanks for joining us for this edition of OES News in Depth. First up today, we're going to take a look at really what it takes to manage a big weather event like what we're enduring right now. And that all happens down in the State Operations Center and that's where John Goodell is. He's standing by in the SOC or otherwise known as the SOC. John, tell us a little bit more about what the flurry of activity is and really what's going on behind the scenes. Thanks Sean. The State Operations Center has been activated the past few days in response to these winter storms pounding California. I was able to catch up with Director Mark Gillar-Ducci to learn more about what's being done behind the scenes to coordinate these efforts. This is the State Operations Center. This is sort of the hub of the coordination center, the heart beat if you would for all statewide emergency management coordination in California. But this is supported by regional centers that we have in different parts of the state that are also activated. It's supported by local emergency operations centers and local coordination centers that are in our counties and in our cities across the state. There's a lot of coordination and collaboration going on at different levels. All of that gets fed into this room behind me with all these different representatives that are here to be able to sort of sift through all of that information and make sure that if a situation cannot be mitigated at the lowest level and there's a need for resources or there's a need for an immediate response that does not get met at a local or regional level, then the folks here will ensure that those resources are provided. And so it really is these levels of response. This is the highest level. And we also have our federal counterparts here, our partners from FEMA and other federal agencies that are here to be able to provide federal support as necessary. So this is really a critical center that's taking into account the entire state but it's being fed in with information from various sources from throughout California. Now what many people may not realize is this is a 24-7, 365-day operation. These people are trained for these exact type of scenarios, John. Yeah, for real. They are trained very well in fact. But there is so much information coming in, so many things to manage and keep track of. How in the world do they keep track of it all in order to stay ahead of the game? Well, the unique part of this event was we had forecasts a week, days in advance. We knew this was going to be a significant storm. We were able to get ahead of it with public safety messaging. We had precautionary measures in place. We did our due diligence and frankly we were not surprised by anything that came about with the storm. Yeah, it's all about being prepared. Good information. Thanks a lot, John. Appreciate it down in the State Operations Center. All right, next up we're going to go to the Department of Water Resources State Flood Operations Center where Rob Mayberry is standing by to explain the difference between what we do and what they're doing right now, which is watching the gauges, watching those waters rise, and managing the flow. Rob. Thanks, Sean. I'm here at the State Flood Operations Center where even after the last weekend storm there continues to be a lot of activity. As additional storms continue to move through northern California, lakes, rivers, and creeks continue to rise. In fact, this morning the Department of Water Resources opened seven of the 48 gates to divert water from the Sacramento River onto the Yolo Sacramento and Sutter Bypass. This is all a part of the State Flood Control Project which is designed to keep the city of Sacramento from flooding. Even though the most severe part of the storm has moved on, some Californians still may be at risk of flooding and or mudslides. This area is made up of a series of bypasses and levees systems, so when the water gets too much for the river system we have these weir strategically placed where the water can flow into the bypass. If you think of the bypass as a highway that can carry more, a higher volume of traffic in your river systems as more of a roadway in your city, the water we want most of that water getting into the bypass is in circumventing the cities of Sacramento and West Sacramento and our other urban areas. The house flooded, again this house is flooded several times but I understand in its history. In the front I don't feel so high as far as Burmy. I put the sand bags in the front that are level with the road, so at least we could prepare the water to come in or at least it will stop there on the barrier. Here we have three layers of sand bags, one with 350 sand bags. So at least for the next few days it will continue to be pretty busy here at the Flood Operations Center making sure that all of us Californians are safe. Back to you Sean. Alright Rob, appreciate it, thank you. Of course we couldn't respond as an agency without the help from our mutual aid partners such as the California National Guard. In fact we have Lieutenant Colonel Michael Martin who is here with the California National Guard. Colonel tell us a little bit about what the California National Guard does in an event like today with all this crazy weather. How are you guys able to help? Hi Sean, thanks for having me. The biggest thing I wanted to talk about is just how much assets we have. We're a community-based organization in which we're in almost every region that's been affected and we're able to support that with our numerous capabilities. We have ground units, we have air units and we have detection so we can support with that but really it's whatever toolkit the incident commander wants us to do. In fact working down there in the state operations center I know that some of your aerial assets as well as your high water capability vehicles have been deployed. Tell us a little bit about those assets. So our high water vehicle are combat trucks that are able to go through water without sustaining damage and able to lift whoever we're rescuing higher than the water level so that's a fairly easy and supportable thing that we can do to support the counties or the local responders in a support role. And in fact we've got some great video that we want to take a look at of this high water vehicle sort of in action at a rescue. Tell us a little bit about the rescue. So this is us taking a response mission from the the Sheriff's Department. It's the Sheriff's Department helicopter. However our high water vehicle was able to go in a location to support the extraction and move them to safety. Yeah that's that's fantastic video that I think that came from your Facebook page and that's some video right there of looking through the windshield I believe. Yep so we get missions and we were able to move to whatever location the incident commander wishes us to support we're at their direction but again these are people that live in your community work in your community and these are our neighborhoods that we're protecting. And regardless of what the event is whether it is a weather event or a major disaster you guys are there to support. We are always ready. Well we appreciate your service thanks for your help and as a mutual aid partner you guys are wonderful thanks so much. Thanks John. Joining me now from the Cal OES State Operations Center is Cal Fire Spokesperson Battalion Chief Scott McClain. Scott you're down there where a lot of activity is going on. Tell me a little bit about what you guys have going on here at Cal OES to help with the flood operation. Well when incidents like this of this magnitude take place we are here to help with whatever we can do to OES and to other agencies throughout the state especially in this case with the floods think about we have over 190 hand crews that we can facilitate whether they be filling sandbags whether they be laying those sandbags debris removal making sure those stream beds are cleaned out so we have a good water flow. And you've also got a lot of really great equipment that you can contribute to the fight. Tell us a little bit about what you have in terms of boats and other kinds of equipment. We also have a lot of swift water rescue teams throughout the state not just in the north on the way home yesterday up in Butte County I was listening to two actual rescues taking place one on the north end of the county one on the south with a swift water rescue team in that location. We have boats to facilitate their needs as well. They're rubber boats we can't have a lot of draft underneath those boats they have to pretty much ride on top of the surface along with a small outboard motor to be very maneuverable in those tight spaces especially in the streams the creeks and the rivers. And of course Scotty being communications professionals you're helping out in our joint information center thanks for being there for us too. Thank you. It gives us an opportunity to get that message out like turn around don't drown we're very heavily on social media and Facebook as well as our Cal Fire website you can all find this on the fire.ca.gov but again we want to promote that message for an example have a ready kit or a go kit for a better term have those supplies three days worth of supplies have your cell phone have a cell phone charger whether it be for a car or a house for an example we often forget about the car so that's a very good thing bring your laptop with you have a set of clothes have some water have some food for an example on that as well. When we come to a body of water we're trying to stress the fact that do not drive through that water six inches of water can knock somebody off their feet believe it or not a foot can actually float a car a small car with a heavy stream up to two feet will definitely take pretty much any car and continue to slide it downstream so turn around don't drown great advice Cal Fire spokesperson Scott McLean appreciate you being here thanks thank you well that about does it for this edition of OES news in depth we hope you found it interesting and insightful as well be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram and you can check out our videos on our YouTube page and we're always on at OES news dot com we are also welcoming your feedback anytime day or night be sure to just fill out the comment section below we'd love to hear from you and if you have an idea for a story or if there's more things that you want to know about let us know that too for all of us here at Cal OES I'm Sean Boyd thanks for watching we'll see you again next time