FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) — Fresno City crews are seeing an increase in reports of potholes now that the rainy season is beginning, and they have been working around the clock to fill as many potholes as possible before the next storm hits Saturday.

Tires ride over cracked and crumbling roads while Mckinley Avenue is riddled with potholes. Headaches for drivers get worse in wet weather.

“We just walk around them and I just pray, when there are puddles and it’s raining, I just pray that I don’t hit a pothole,” Fresno resident Diane Bradford said.

Rain is the road’s worst enemy. When water enters the cracks, the road surface weakens and potholes form. City crews were out the day before the storm, filling up as many as they could before the rain.

“Typically we have more than 50 or 100 calls in this area the day after a storm, but on a typical fair-weather weekend we only have a small handful,” says Scott Moiser, public works director for the city of Fresno.

The expensive work requires a lot of resources. Last year, the city created a pothole team that works year-round, locating and repairing problem areas and responding to reports. In October, the city announced it would allocate $7.4 million to hire outside contractors to redevelop entire neighborhoods.

“It was a combination of eight different neighborhoods around the city and fortunately came in over 30% under budget,” Moiser says.

So far they have already completed two districts and plan to take a break in the spring.

When the rain hits, the pothole crew. will quickly switch to storm response.

“You will find our City of Fresno maintenance team cleaning drains and tending to downed trees. Very soon after the storm they will switch back to pothole fighting,” says Moiser.

If you want to report a pothole, you can download the Fres-Go app. The app also allows you to view the status of city teams’ progress.