Mindful of the millions of dollars in damage that occurred last year when a levee failed on Jones Tract Island near Stockton, state and local officials are now monitoring the system very closely. Ronald Baldwin is the Director of Emergency Operations for San Joaquin County.

"Water Resources as well as the dam operators and others are having daily briefings. I think everyone's watching. There's a lot of water in the system and there expecting quite a bit of rain this weekend."

This month Stockton has received about three inches of rain above the normal amount.

A spokeswoman for the environmental organization Deltakeepers says residential development in the floodplain has created a situation similar to New Orleans, in that a breech of a nearby levee could flood entire neighborhoods.

Baldwin says his agency is prepared for any contingency.