By Lookout Staff

January 7, 2016 -- With El Niño rainfall growing worse on Wednesday, Santa Monica police were urging the city’s homeless population to get to nearby shelters either by bus or, in extreme cases, via personal delivery by police officers.

Officials weren’t surprised by the storm, which followed an El Niño downpour that hit the Southland on Tuesday. Forecasters had been warning of hard rain from El Niño beginning in January for months.

But there was scrambling on Wednesday nonetheless to find a safe place for Santa Monica’s homeless, a population that last year totaled 738 people according to the homeless count of January 2015. (Santa Monica Homeless Count Shows Modest Decline) February 25, 2015.

Santa Monica police urged those without shelter to get to the West Los Angeles Armory, in West Los Angeles at 300 Federal Avenue, said Sgt. Jeff Glaser, of the department’s Homeless Liaison Program.

He said there is a daily bus pick-up location in Venice on Ocean Front Walk at Market Street. But if a homeless person couldn’t get to the bus in the pouring rain, he said police are willing to help in the worst of cases.

“Should someone be unable to make it to the bus location, we often drive them there,” Glaser said. “In extreme cases, we have driven some people directly to the location. “

Part of a special winter outreach program that provides temporary shelters throughout Los Angeles County, the Armory provides 150 beds, according to the program website. It opened November 1 and is to remain in service through March. Those who seek shelter there can bring only one bag.

Meanwhile, an outreach team from St. Joseph Center, a Venice housing and services agency, was taking homeless people to shelters, where they could receive a warm shower, food and protection as part of Los Angeles County’s winter shelter program.

It was difficult to determine, though, how well the shelter program was working for either Santa Monica or the Los Angeles County as a whole, where the total homeless population reaches more than 44,000.

“I drove all around and didn’t see the usual suspects,” said Santa Monica City Council Member Sue Himmelrich, who helps with the City’s annual count of the homeless population and keeps blankets and items of clothing in her car in case she sees someone in need.

She said she checked park benches through the city, as well as Reed Park, the city’s oldest park, and Tongva Park on Ocean Avenue. Nothing she saw alarmed her, she said.

Representatives of OPCC, a Santa Monica nonprofit organization for the needy, were not available to comment on how it was dealing with the storm and the homeless population, a spokesperson said.

OPCC provides basic and emergency services such as food, clothing and restroom facilities to approximately 275 people a day, as well as supportive services that help them stabilize their lives and live independently.

Wednesday’s storm was pounding the Southland at the same time Los Angeles County and its municipalities found themselves under attack by the county’s Civil Grand Jury over the lack of help for the homeless during El Niño.

About 70 percent of the county’s homeless sleep outdoors, the report said, according to the Los Angeles Times. The jurors said regional officials had failed to identify enough public and private buildings for the homeless as El Niño weather conditions mount.

As a result, they said, only a fraction of those who need shelter will find it. The jury also recommended emergency supplies be stockpiled, including tents, tarps and ponchos.

The report said poor preparations by officials throughout Los Angeles County meant “preventable outcomes, such as great suffering and possible loss of life in an already unhealthy segment of our population will likely occur.”