Redondo Beach will spend up to $1.6 million more on emergency drain and sewer repairs after the City Council unanimously expanded a contract with Toro Enterprises Inc. on Oct. 20.

The vote raises the agreement's ceiling from $378,875 to $1,978,875, split between $800,000 for storm drain work and $800,000 for sanitary sewer services, according to a Public Works Department report prepared by Public Works Director Andrew Winje.

The expansion comes as the city braces for heavier rainfall tied to El Niño conditions. Patch first reported the council's action on Tuesday, Oct. 27.

High tides flooded the Redondo Beach pier boardwalk on Tuesday, Oct. 27, and a coastal flood advisory covered the Los Angeles County coastline, MyNewsLA reported.

Under the original contract, approved in September 2025, Toro handled emergency repairs at four specific locations. The company completed work along Dixon Avenue, at Ormond and Steinhart avenues, and on Marshallfield Avenue. A fourth project near Pacific Coast Highway and Knob Hill Avenue was dropped after Caltrans accepted responsibility for the damage and undertook repairs at no cost to the city.

The expanded agreement changes how the city can use Toro. Instead of assigning the contractor to fixed sites, Public Works staff can now dispatch crews for routine, urgent or emergency maintenance wherever city engineers identify problems. Each job still requires written authorization from the city engineer and confirmed funding before work begins, according to the Public Works report.

That flexibility matters heading into winter. The city's underground infrastructure includes corrugated metal storm drains and clay sewer mains vulnerable to deteriorating pipe walls, cracked joints and invasive tree roots, the report states. Those defects can erode surrounding soil, creating sinkholes, damaging streets and raising the risk of flooding or sewage overflows.

Having a contractor locked in before storm season will let crews make preventive repairs at high-risk spots and respond faster when storms spike demand for workers and equipment, according to the Public Works report.

NOAA's winter outlook, released Oct. 15, projects wetter-than-average conditions across the southern United States, including California, from December through February. Ken Graham, director of NOAA's National Weather Service, said El Niño "tilts the odds toward stormier weather across the South."

The agreement does not lock the city into spending the full $1,978,875. Individual projects must be authorized as needed, with costs charged to storm drain or sewer capital improvement accounts. The contract runs through Sept. 16, 2028.

City staff compared Toro's pricing against similar contracts with the City of Oxnard and the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District before recommending the expansion, according to the Public Works report. Toro agreed to maintain its competitively established rates.