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.

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.

An “atmospheric river” continued to batter parts of Northern California on Tuesday, causing widespread flooding. The heavy rains prompted the National Weather Service to warn of a dam failure outside Carson City, Nev., saying that it was “not a drill” and that residents should “move to higher ground now.” But less than 90 minutes after issuing the alert, the agency changed its report to say the retention basin in Dayton, Nev., had not failed. Instead, it was full and overflowing into drainage areas, the weather service said.

As the latest major storm to saturate California got in its final licks Tuesday, the state deployed all the weapons in its flood-control arsenal — including farm tractors, pontoon boats and controlled releases from mountain reservoirs. By nightfall, as the storm weakened over Northern California, it appeared that the region — so far — had successfully navigated its way through another “atmospheric river,” as meteorologists now call the intense, Pacific-born storm systems once known as the Pineapple Express.

At VerdeXchange 2017, Los Angeles County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl announced her plans to introduce a motion to develop a countywide funding measure for stormwater capture and management. In a powerful regional stormwater collaboration VX2017 panel, which also included Felicia Marcus, Chair of the California State Water Resources Control Board; Robert Garcia, Mayor of Long Beach; Jeff Kightlinger, GM of Metropolitan Water District; and Matt Petersen, Chief Sustainability Officer for City of Los Angeles, Sup. Kuehl announced her intension to fund pertinent regional water infrastructure through a parcel fee on property owners. TPR presents an excerpt of the panel.