00:00 Now we check in with the Kern River Valley to learn more about how residents up there are feeling about the incoming storm.
00:06 Here's 23 ABC's Corey O'Leary.
00:08 Residents of the Kern River Valley are no strangers to storms and extreme weather.
00:13 Back in March, precipitation brought major flooding into areas of the valley, including right here in Kernville.
00:20 And these floods brought extensive property damage.
00:23 Now, with more rain expected on Sunday and Monday, some of the residents I talked to showed worry.
00:29 Others, not so much.
00:31 Wait and see. Cautiously optimistic.
00:34 That's Beverly Dimitriff, who runs a campground right off the Kern River.
00:37 In March, her campground was flooded, and she was tasked with moving tons of debris that the river deposited on the grounds.
00:43 We do have berms in place to hold back the river, so even if it gets up to between eight and ten grand, we should still be fine.
00:50 Times do the storms just blow over. They do a lot.
00:53 So we'll just wait. If it gets rain here, then we'll watch it.
00:56 I'm going to have somebody here 24 hours.
00:59 Dimitriff says she doesn't think this storm will cause major flooding like the one in March, but if it does, she has made new campsites on higher ground.
01:06 I've created a big area in my back compound, removed all my equipment, stored it someplace else, made 19 campsites back there.
01:14 So we have other spots we can move people to if necessary.
01:17 The Kern County Fire Department says it is increasing staffing at Kern River Valley stations over the weekend in preparation for the storm.
01:23 However, some residents say they aren't worried at all.
01:26 No, we get them every year.
01:28 Director of the Kern River Conservancy Gary Ananian says this storm is different because it will be caused by Hurricane Hillary.
01:34 At this point, we don't really know. This is a storm system that hasn't really been into California in nearly 100 years.
01:40 So it's part of 2023. It's just one thing after another with weather out here.
01:44 Ananian doesn't believe many places in the Kern River Valley are going to see major flooding.
01:48 The only flooding I would probably see is more in the hillsides where there were some burn areas.
01:52 Other residents say the prospect of heavy rain worries them.
01:55 Yeah, if it has a lot of rain, we get flooded out where we live.
02:00 Lake Isabella resident Rocky Houston says the possibility of high winds worries him more than the possibility of rain.
02:07 Because over in Maui, same thing happened. And that's what I'm kind of worried about.
02:15 If you look around, you can see it's, you know, real dry right now.
02:21 It moved about 10 or 12 feet months ago.
02:25 That's Ron Guillotine, who has lived in Wilford Heights for 20 years.
02:28 He's talking about the landslide near his house that was evaluated by geologists earlier this year.
02:33 We're still under an evacuation order, but not mandatory anymore.
02:37 Guillotine told me he would only be worried if he saw a lot of rain in a short amount of time.
02:41 Part that concerned me was the three inches in an hour that some things could happen.
02:48 And I don't think that this far north we're going to get that.
02:52 but I'm not a weatherman.
02:53 Corey O'Leary, 23ABC News, connecting you.
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