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"Salinas public works finished up its biggest El Nino prep project this week. Crews cleaned up both Gabilan Creek and Natividad Creek, which were choked by drought-stricken vegetation for years.\"It was really overgrown,\" resident Ken Hayes said. \"There were big tree limbs that probably would have blocked the bridges, but you know it's all clear now and they've done a fantastic job.\"Hayes lives along Salinas' Gabilan Creek, an area once overgrown with tree limbs and other drought-stricken vegetation.Ahead of predicted El Nino storms, Salinas public works stepped in with the project costing about $20,000. For three consecutive weeks, the city had both city workers and a Cal Fire inmate crew clear out both Gabilan Creek and Natividad Creek, two hot spots for flooding in the past.\"It just hasn't looked better than the last 20 years and we are really happy to accomplish that,\" Salinas Assistant Public Works Director Don Reynolds said.With the recent rain, there are some puddles in the creek, but because the water is better contained, there isn't a threat of flooding currently.\"If the logs and debris get into those bridgeways than it causes the water to overtop and could damage the infrastructure and potentially creep into the residential neighborhood,\" Reynolds said.It's not just the creeks that the city cleaned up, they cleared storm drains around the city and armed the fire stations with sandbags.\"We're just doing what we can with the stuff we can control and that's the best we can do and set the example, be a leader for the others to follow,\" Reynolds said.With more storms to come, residents like Hayes are bracing for the worst and hoping for the best."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.ksbw.com/article/salinas-cleans-up-creeks-ahead-of-predicted-storms/1058382>