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Are El Niño preparations making a difference?

Before the El Niño storms began to hit San Diego, county officials began to prepare the area for all the rain and flooding that was expected.

SAN DIEGO (CBS 8) - Before the El Niño storms hit San Diego, city and county representatives began to prepare the area for the rain and flooding that was expected.

The City of San Diego obtained emergency permits to remove more than 200 dump truck loads of brush, dirt and mud.

"The storm drain system was cleaned thoroughly in the past year. About 28,000 storm drain inlets were cleaned at least once, many multiple times," said Bill Harris.

During the storm systems the week of January 4, Camino De La Reina became part of the San Diego River after the rain overwhelmed the area.

Lizbeth Collins works in an office building near Camino De La Reina. She was told to be ready to move her car if the water got much deeper.

"We were driving over here this (Thursday) morning and we saw it. It's crazy because it's pretty deep in there. I've never seen this like this and I'm pretty surprised," she said.

In 2010, the area of Camino De La Reina was heavily flooded by a series of strong storms.

"The system worked as it was planed to work. There were many areas that still had flooding, many areas that saw delays in the water receding. That's because we got a lot of it, not that the system was broken down, but it got overwhelmed by storms that we're going to be talking about for years to come," said Harris. 

Another problem drivers will begin to notice are potholes, but city workers are expected to make repairs in the coming days.

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