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Did The Drought Contribute To Severe Flooding In San Jose? Officials Search For Answers

/in /by /Los Angeles Timesby Rong-Gong Lin II, Veronica Rocha and Matt Stevens

For five long, drought-plagued winters, Mother Nature refused to refill Coyote Creek. Foliage filled its dry bed, and without regular rains, the vegetation remained in the creek rather than being flushed out to sea. Then an epic winter of rain hit Northern California, and the dry creek suddenly became wet again. This week, the creek swelled to record heights after water from a dam spilled into it, creating widespread flooding in central San Jose. Officials acknowledged they badly miscalculated how much flooding would occur, which left residents unprepared for the water that would inundate their neighborhoods.

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NASA Satellite Photos Show Effects Of Rain In California

/in /by /KTLA (Los Angeles)

Photos from NASA’s Earth Observatory show the aftereffects of massive amounts of rain on California’s hydrologic system. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says strong atmospheric rivers can transport 7.5 to 15 times the average water flow at the mouth of the Mississippi River. These flowing columns of condensed water vapor produce “significant levels of rain and snow,” and can account for 30-50% of the Pacific Coast’s rain and snow.

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Rainfall Up To 200 Percent Of Normal In California

/in /by /The Signal (Santa Clarita Valley)by Christina Cox

Consistent storms across California this year have helped improve drought conditions and bring above-average downpours to cities throughout the state. According to the Western Regional Climate Center, rainfall since Oct. 1, 2016—the beginning of the water year—is 120 percent to 200 percent of normal in regions across California. The heavy rainfall is a sign of relief for drought conditions throughout the state, which have continued to improve in 2017, according to weekly reports from the U.S. Drought Monitor.

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Who Should Pay To Fix The Oroville Dam?

/in /by /KCET (Burbank)by Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla

After a nail-biting week of rain, it looks like the Oroville Dam spillway crisis is under control, for now. Downstream communities, including the nearly 200,000 people whose lives were disrupted by a two-day evacuation, will remain on alert as the large snowpack in the Northern Sierra (more than 150 percent of normal) begins to melt this spring.

 

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California’s Wet Weather Has Some Believing The Drought Is Over

/in /by /ABC Newsby Emily Shapiro

A statewide downpour brought chaos to Californians this week, but it also provided some welcome relief to the state’s 20 million residents who have suffered from drought conditions for more than four years. The record precipitation now has some experts declaring the drought over. The drought began in 2012, but California Gov. Jerry Brown did not declare a drought state of emergency until January 2014. A response team was later established, and state lawmakers have allocated over $3 billion for drought relief and water management improvements.

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Kamala Harris To Tour Lake Oroville Dam’s Damaged Spillways

/in /by /Associated Press (As published by U.S. News)

U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris is planning to visit the Lake Oroville dam as crews work to shore up damaged spillways that forced emergency evacuations in three counties. The recently elected California Democrat will survey the damage and repair work by air on Thursday. She’ll also get a briefing from state officials, the Butte County sheriff’s office and the National Guard. The water level behind the dam began dropping Wednesday morning after it rose about 5 feet when a series of storms dumped rain in the area. The lake is still nearly 50 feet below capacity.

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The Latest: California Dam With Earthquake Concerns Is Full

/in /by /The Associated Press (As published by US News & World Report)

Water managers in a California community say they’re taking advantage of a break in storms to draw down water from behind a dam that is full, causing a creek to overflow and flood parts of San Jose. Jim Fiedler of the Santa Clara Valley Water District said Wednesday that Anderson Dam is full. Releases over its spillway have flooded neighborhoods in San Jose. The district is required to keep the dam 68 percent of capacity after inspections found that it could fail in a major earthquake.

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The Latest: Governor Tours Damaged California Dam

/in /by /The Associated Press (As published by The Washington Times)

Gov. Jerry Brown has visited crews responding to damaged spillways at Lake Oroville in Northern California. Brown’s office sent a tweet Wednesday saying the Democratic governor met with people at the incident command center and surveyed California’s flood control system. Brown’s visit comes after authorities on Feb. 12 ordered 188,000 people to evacuate when water overflowing from the lake caused dangerous erosion around an emergency spillway.

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California Senate Leader Puts 100% Renewable Energy On The Table In New Legislation

/in /by /Los Angeles Timesby Chris Megerian

It wasn’t just talk — Senate leader Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles) is proposing legislation that would require California to generate all of its electricity from renewable sources. The measure, SB 584, was introduced without fanfare before last week’s deadline for new proposals in the Capitol. If approved, 100% of the state’s electricity would need to come from clean sources such as solar and wind by 2045. De León first suggested the idea in a conversation with The Times last month.

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Hit By Worst Floods In A Century, San Jose Got Little Warning Of Impending Disaster

/in /by /Los Angeles Timesby Veronica Rocha, Rong-Gong Lin II, Matt Stevens

Over the last two weeks, heavy rains pushed water levels at Santa Clara County’s largest reservoir into the danger zone, with officials warning it could overflow. That happened over the weekend, sending massive amounts of water into the Coyote Creek, which runs through the heart of San Jose. By Tuesday, the creek was overflowing at numerous locations, inundating neighborhoods, flooding hundreds of homes and forcing the frantic evacuations of more than 14,000 residents, who remained out of their homes Wednesday.

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