San Jose council to vote Nov. 10 on local emergency ahead of El Niño storms

SAN JOSE - The San Jose City Council will vote Nov. 10 on proclaiming a local emergency ahead of this winter's El Niño storms, according to the council agenda posted Oct. 30.  The step would let the city use its Emergency Reserve Fund for emergency contracts for supplies, equipment and services to reduce flooding.

El Niño is a natural shift in the Pacific Ocean that returns every two to seven years on average, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the federal weather and ocean agency. Normally, steady winds push warm surface water west along the equator toward Asia. During El Niño those winds weaken, and warm water spreads back east toward the Americas. That pushes the jet stream, the fast high-altitude wind that steers storms, farther south, which tends to bring a wetter winter than usual to the southern United States, NOAA says.

Forecasters expect this one to be unusually strong. The city's draft resolution cites NOAA's Climate Prediction Center giving a better than 90% chance of a very strong El Niño this fall and winter, and a 69% chance it will be stronger than any El Niño on record since 1950. Gov. Gavin Newsom's Sept. 21 state of emergency warns that it may bring severe storms, atmospheric rivers (long, narrow bands of moisture that can dump heavy rain), flooding, mudslides and power outages, according to a Valley Water memo.

Why the city says San Jose is at risk

Under state law, a local emergency is a formal finding that a disaster puts people or property in "extreme peril." The draft resolution gives these reasons the city expects that kind of danger this winter:

• Over the last three years, increasingly severe atmospheric-river storms forced evacuation orders and the opening of shelters in San Jose.
• Seven San Jose waterways are mapped as flood risks by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA): Coyote Creek, the Guadalupe River, Ross Creek, Upper Penitencia Creek, Silver Creek, Berryessa Creek and Canoas Creek.
• Heavier rain can cause flash floods, overwhelmed storm drains, mudslides and higher high tides.
• Stronger winds can knock down trees, power poles and power lines.
• Long power outages could cut essential services and endanger people who rely on electric medical or mobility equipment.
• Sandbags and other flood-fighting supplies are getting harder to buy through normal channels.
• Low-income residents, seniors, people with disabilities, people with few ways to get around, people experiencing homelessness and flood-prone neighborhoods may face the greatest risk.

On Oct. 13 the council met with the Valley Water board to review flood plans along those creeks, and both boards voiced concern about the coming storms, the draft says.

What the proclamation would do

The emergency would last until the council ends it, with reports every 60 days from the city's emergency services director. It would also let the city order evacuations, open shelters and ask other agencies for help.

Valley Water, the county's flood-control district, already has its own emergency in place.  Its board is set to decide Nov. 10 whether those conditions continue.

The council meets at 1:30 p.m. at City Hall and online.

Source:  San Jose City Council agenda, Nov. 10, 2026, Item 3.3; draft resolution, File 26-1151; Valley Water board agenda, Nov. 10, 2026, Item 4.5; Valley Water El Niño emergency memo, Oct. 7; NOAA, What are El Niño and La Niña?