SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – The whole county is under a tropical storm watch with Tropical Storm Rachel coming up the coast.

In Spring Valley, at one of San Diego County’s sandbag fill-up sites, those like Daniel Lazaro are taking advantage of the free sand and jumping on the weather.

“Fill some sandbags, getting ready for the rain that's coming over the weekend,” Lazaro said. “I think being prepared is probably 100%, like 90% of waiting for these events to happen. Just get ready for it. If you don't need, if it end up not needing it, it's better than not having it when you need it.” 

After a hot week, we’re getting ready for a wet weekend.

“This is our first time being in the line of the atmospheric river for this season,” Ashley Gain from the San Diego County Office of Emergency Services said.

ABC 10News spoke with Gain about how they’re preparing for this weather and what they’re telling people to do as well. 

“We have a severe weather preparedness task force that's made up of individuals across the county. I think we've got about 60 folks on it now,” Gain said.

She told ABC 10News the County, and others have been preparing for the weather changes since June. 

“So for groups like Public Works, that means that they've been doing very frequent culvert inspections,” Gain said. “They've been going and making sure to maintaining those storm drains; they've inspected all of them across the region.” 

Gain and her team have been in the community trying to get people prepared for dangerous weather. 

She says after a hot week, this incoming rain poses a specific challenge. 

"We want to make sure that we're maintaining our cool zone operations,” Gain said. “So maintaining that while also kind of looking out to make sure that those facilities aren't going to have any is when it starts raining.” 

Still, one of the biggest things the county recommends is to sign up for Alert San Diego.

“So, I want to make sure that people understand that even if they're not physically at the location, there's still a way for them to receive information about what's happening to their home,” Gain said.