The rains are coming…or so they say. I was a little worried that I had missed the window to get some sandbags from the local First Station and install them since it did rain here a bit over night. A bright, clear and warm day made a perfect day to get them, though. It looked liked a lot of other people had the same ideas. The lot at LA City Fire Station 88 was hopping with at least 8 other groups there.
As an added bonus for some, this is also the same location to recycle your (once) live Christmas Tree instead of just dropping it on the curb or in an empty lot. There is a large dumpster that will be added to the city mulch piles and re-distributed to citizens. That is the next trip I have planned.
City of Los Angeles Sandbag Pickup Locations
City of Burbank Sandbag Pickup Locations
For those outside of the City, check with your local city web sites for more information
Panorama of Station 88 sandbag pickup
The City provides both bags and sand, but you need to bring your own shovels and elbow grease. It only took about 15 minutes for the 3 of us to file 6 bags and load them in the car. They are heavy, even when only filled halfway, so you may need to bring some help with you, too. Don’t hurt yourself! I would guesstimate about 50 lbs per sandbag if filled 3/4 full.
I wasn’t sure how much weight my Honda Element could take, but it handled 6 bags with no problem at all. I could probably have gone with as many as 10 without causing any issues with the suspension.
…and here they are installed in the back yard. For the most part, our yard and garden doesn’t have any drainage problems, but this one spot — at the end of the patio can fill up during the heaviest rains and once it leaked under the garage door. I am placing these just in case we get the heavy rains that are predicted. They will raise the water level just enough to allow the heaviest rains to run around the garage and down the alley to the street.
I highly recommend keeping a few sandbags on hand just in case they are needed. You don’t want to be running to the station and shoveling in the rain, if you can help it.
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