There is a particular kind of quiet in Del Mar in late October. The summer renters are gone, the track has gone silent, and many houses on the hills and near the beach go back to being occupied a few weekends a month. It’s also the last stretch of reliably dry weather before winter. This year, that stretch matters more than usual.
What the forecasters are saying
The Climate Prediction Center’s ENSO discussion of 8 October 2026 kept its El Niño Advisory in place. It described El Niño as continuing to strengthen, with a strong-to-very-strong event likely through January to March 2027, at a greater than 83% chance. The Niño-3.4 index had reached plus 2.1 degrees Celsius.
The same discussion is careful in a way worth noting. It says that with an event of this size, the chances of El Niño-like impacts are larger, but not certain. A strong El Niño shifts the odds toward a wet Southern California winter. It doesn’t schedule storms.
Locally, the County of San Diego proclaimed a local emergency on September 30, 2026, ahead of what it called a potentially historic El Niño season. The County’s announcement listed potential impacts including heavy rain, urban flooding, mudslides, coastal erosion and strain on stormwater systems, and it noted the Governor’s statewide proclamation of September 21.
None of that tells you what will happen to a particular house. It does suggest that this is a sensible year to do the pre-season work properly rather than quickly.
Why the dry weeks are the useful ones
Most water problems around a foundation are easiest to see when they aren’t happening. In dry weather you can walk the whole perimeter, look into area drains, get into a crawl space without wading, and compare what you see with photos from last year. Once the rain starts, the same tasks become rushed, wet and incomplete.
For an owner who isn’t in residence, this is doubly true. A problem that begins during a January storm may not be noticed until the next visit. The aim of pre-season work is to reduce the number of things that can go wrong while no one is watching, and to leave a clear baseline for comparison afterward.
A pre-season walk, in order
We tend to walk a property in the order that water moves through it: from the roof down to the ground, and from the ground toward the street or slope.
Roof water. Gutters cleared, downspouts connected, and every downspout either tied into a working drain line or discharging well away from the foundation. A disconnected downspout dumping beside a footing is one of the most common findings and one of the simplest to fix.
Grade at the walls. The California Residential Code, in section R401.3, calls for the ground beside a foundation to slope so that water drains away from it. Over years, planting beds get built up, mulch accumulates, and patios settle toward the house. A quick look at which way the ground falls along each wall is worth the time.
Area drains and inlets. Remove grates, clear leaves and sediment, and run a hose to confirm the line actually carries water to its outlet. The County’s private drainage guidance asks owners to inspect and clean their drainage systems before the rainy season and after storms, and to keep debris out of them.
Outlets and slopes. On hillside lots, follow the drain lines to where they discharge. An outlet that empties onto an unprotected slope, or that has broken off partway down, can concentrate water exactly where you least want it. Our notes on drainage on Del Mar’s hillsides go into this further.
Irrigation. Set controllers to a winter schedule or turn them off. An irrigation system that keeps running through a wet winter adds water to soil that is already saturated, and on a property no one is visiting, it may run for weeks unnoticed.
Crawl spaces and below-grade areas. Look for standing water, damp soil, staining on framing and blocked vents. If the house has a sump, test it.
Homes near the river and the beach
Parts of Del Mar lie within FEMA’s Special Flood Hazard Area, which the City maps and regulates as its Floodplain Overlay Zone. The City’s FEMA page explains that the flood zones reflect different flood sources, river and coastal wave, and that FEMA’s coastal study led to a revised Flood Insurance Rate Map effective December 21, 2019.
For owners in or near those areas, pre-season preparation has a few extra items: confirming that flood openings in enclosures under the house are clear, that stored items in those enclosures can tolerate water or are moved up, and that utilities are where the original design intended. We covered the purpose of flood openings in Del Mar flood vents, and the North Beach floodplain foundations page explains how foundations there are usually built.
On bluff and canyon-edge lots, the focus shifts to keeping water off the slope. Any repair or new structure on those lots may involve City review and, in the coastal zone, coastal development permitting, with timing that depends on the City and the scope. That is another reason to look early, so that ordinary maintenance gets done now and anything larger can be planned without urgency.
Make a baseline before the rain
For a second home, the most valuable single thing to leave behind before winter may be a record. A dated set of photos of the perimeter, the crawl space, known cracks and the drainage outlets lets you, or whoever checks the house for you, tell after a storm whether anything changed.
A simple baseline might include:
- Photos of each elevation of the house and each slope
- Close-ups of existing cracks, with a pencil mark at each end and a date
- Photos of every area drain and outlet, showing it clear
- A crawl space walk-through on video
- Notes on irrigation settings and where the shutoffs are
Our remote owner’s second-home checklist covers the broader year-round routine, and what to look at after a storm describes the follow-up visit this baseline makes useful.
Who should do what
Much of this is maintenance a property manager or handyman can handle: clearing gutters and drains, adjusting irrigation, taking photos. Some of it calls for a structural evaluation: cracks that have grown since last year, floors that have begun to slope, a retaining wall leaning or weeping, or an outlet that has eroded a slope.
Where the evaluation points to a structural or soils issue, design belongs with the appropriate professionals, and we coordinate with licensed engineers as needed. Our second-home structural monitoring page explains how we set up periodic checks for owners who aren’t in town, and the foundation drainage page describes common drainage corrections.
What drives the cost of pre-season work
Owners often ask what this kind of preparation costs. It depends on the property rather than on a standard package. The main factors are:
- The size of the lot and how much of it slopes
- How many drains, outlets and downspouts there are, and their condition
- Access to the crawl space and under-house areas
- Whether repairs are needed or only cleaning and documentation
- Whether any work needs City or coastal review
We work across all of Del Mar, from the hills to the beach and the river’s edge. If you’d like a pre-winter look at your home before you leave it for the season, request a Free Quote and we’ll arrange a time that suits your schedule.