FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – Rain is headed to the the Central Valley and city officials are taking all precautions to prevent street flooding. Fresno and Clovis have been preparing for weeks, cleaning the streets and storm drains for when the wet weather hits the valley. "We have to be ahead of the storm and we need to think proactively and once the storm hits, there's no time to get caught up," said Brian Russell, Fresno's Assistant Director of Public Works. Both cities are cleaning the streets and sidewalks of leaves and branches so that when the rain comes, they do not wash into the storm drains. "Our street sweeping effort, really is about flooding, it's about water quality and flooding," Russell shared. Street sweeper machines and leaf blowers are used. In Fresno, pine trees cause more work for the public works department and the crews need to manually collect the fallen needles because they can ignite the sweeper machine. "We actually keep a list of what we call our problem drain inlets that are more likely to plug up, so we patrol those, that's our first area to patrol and then we're also relying on residents to call in problem areas," added Rob Rush, Utilities Manager for the City of Clovis.  Residents can call 311 to report concerns about flooding, downed tree limbs, or even potholes. "One of the first things we're doing as soon as the storm is over and the rains passed, we have a blitz of pothole crews out filling these potholes," Russell said.  The City of Clovis provides 10 free sandbags for residents to create a barrier near doorways or problem areas. They are available for pick up at the Clovis Public Utilities Department off Sunnyside Avenue.  "We retrofitted this trailer this year, the idea of this trailer is to allow more people to fill sandbags at one time and to increase the ease and convenience of filling them and so we'll be actively monitoring this, assisting residents as needed," Rush said. Residents do not need to return the sandbags; they are good to use for the rest of the season. It is recommended to pick them up sooner rather than later to avoid long lines.