![]() ![]() ![]() In addition to flood threats, the abundance of water this year also led many to question whether the state was doing enough to capture all of that water - including some lawmakers who called for officials to relax environmental pumping restrictions that limited the amount of water that could be captured from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta during the storms. “Hopefully, the failures will bring us to action on some of these.” “These floods and droughts identify weaknesses in the system,” he said. Lund, of UC Davis, said that while large cities tend to be fairly well defended against flooding, many smaller places such as Pajaro aren’t adequately protected. The state is also readying more flood control material than last year, including more “muscle wall” - or material to help shore up levees and contain water - and 2.4 million additional sandbags, officials said.Ĭalifornia ‘Nature gave us a lifeline’: Southern California refills largest reservoir in dramatic fashionĭiamond Valley Lake - a backbone of the region’s water storage system - should refill to its full capacity by the end of this year, officials said. And we just do not have extensive flood systems on the coast of California, so that’s an area that we’re paying particular attention to going into this year.”Īmong the state’s preparations are $52 million in funding to assist with local flood projects and critical levee repairs. ![]() “I think there is potential for a lot of strong storms to come into California and have coastal issues. “The coast was particularly hit hard, and that keeps me awake a little bit at night with going into an El Niño year,” said Gary Lippner, DWR’s deputy director of flood management and dam safety. Storms coming straight off the Pacific could equate to more coastal impacts like those seen in Pajaro. Still, the possibility of more storms - particularly along the coast - is cause for concern, officials said. The climate pattern is often associated with wetter conditions in Southern California, but is less informative about Northern California, which is where most of the state’s water supply comes from. “We’ve always had intense variability in California, but the suddenness of the shift from ‘very extreme dry’ to ‘very extreme wet’ is something that we think needs additional research to understand how changes in the climate may have played a factor, or not, in that extreme shift,” Nemeth said.Īdding to the challenge is the possibility of a strong El Niño event this winter. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |