Using tax dollars to move whole communities out of flood zones, an idea long dismissed as radical, is swiftly becoming policy, marking a new and more disruptive phase of climate change.
Mayor Kevin Faulconer joined San Diego Fire Chief Colin Stowell and Councilman Chris Cate Wednesday to urge residents to stay on high alert, get prepared and stay informed, citing the historic lightning-sparked fires raging in northern California in stressing the need to be vigilant.
A recent UCLA study says that in the next 40 years, California could likely see a flood massive enough to cause nearly $1 trillion of damage, force millions of people to evacuate, and leave houses in California’s Central Valley 30 to 40 feet underwater. And the state is ill-prepared when it comes to infrastructure like dams that could prevent flooding.
California was caught flat-footed by the climate-driven challenges it has faced last week: extreme temperatures, unseasonable lightning strikes, diminishing water supplies and red flag fire conditions. As a result, CalFire was short on firefighters to battle the blazes and the electric utilities had too little power to serve all of their customers at the same time.
San Diego ocean temperatures hit record territory this past weekend, as a heatwave also baked the San Diego Region. The record comes just weeks after the unseasonably cool ocean temperatures were recorded. Someone has taken the temperature at the end of Scripps Pier every day for more than 100 years. Sunday’s reading tied for the hottest on record 79.5 degrees Fahrenheit. It tied the record that was set just two years ago.
A deep dive into the causes of the first rolling blackouts to hit California in 19 years is coming soon from state agencies but a preliminary report from an energy consulting group in Sacramento points to a number of reasons — including an overreliance on out-of-state energy imports.
Urgent action on water security is essential to better prepare societies for future global health crises, say experts at the University of Birmingham in the U.K. and Northwestern University in the U.S.
The San Diego County Water Authority announced today it is partnering with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego to better predict atmospheric rivers and improve water management before, during and after those seasonal storms.
Millions of people rely on real estate websites when they’re hoping to buy or rent a home. Major sites such as Zillow, Redfin, Trulia and Realtor.com feature kitchens, bathrooms, mortgage estimates and even school ratings. But those sites don’t show buyers whether the house is likely to flood while they’re living there. Now, Realtor.com has become the first site to disclose information about a home’s flood risk and how climate change could increase that risk in the coming decades, potentially signaling a major shift in consumers’ access to information about climate threats.
Attorneys for farmer Michael Abatti on Monday filed a petition requesting that the California Supreme Court take up a case against the Imperial Irrigation District, continuing the battle for control over California’s Colorado River water allotment.
This latest filing calls on the court to rule that Imperial Valley farmers have a right to water ownership, which currently resides with the district.
