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Storms, Floods Cause $1.2B Damage To Public Infrastructure

/in , , /by /Associated Press

Storms and flooding have caused significant damage throughout the U.S. during the first half of 2019. The Associated Press tallied about $1.2 billion of damage in 24 states based on preliminary assessments of public infrastructure categories established by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The tally includes damage to roads and bridges, utilities, water control facilities, public buildings and equipment, and parks. Each state must meet particular damage thresholds to qualify for federal aid based on their populations. Most, though not all, of the damage costs tallied by the AP will be eligible for federal aid. Figures for some states include updated damage costs provided to the AP by state agencies after their initial reports to FEMA.

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Trump Signs Disaster Declaration For Flooded Northern California Counties

/in , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Rachel Swan

President Trump signed a disaster declaration Saturday for 17 Northern California counties that endured battering rains and landslides this year, making them eligible for federal relief. The move followed three emergency proclamations this year by Gov. Gavin Newsom, who directed Caltrans to seek federal assistance for a string of brutal February storms that doused rural areas across the state, damaging roads and bridges. Newsom described the devastation in a letter to Trump last month in which he asked for the disaster declaration. “The storms caused widespread flash flooding, erosion, mud and debris flows, power outages, and damage to roadways and other critical infrastructure,” Newsom wrote. “In addition to the precipitation, heavy winds uprooted trees, impacting roads and power lines.”

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Forecasters: ‘Potentially Historic’ Flooding Threatens South

/in , /by /The Associated Press by Jeff Martin

Scientists are warning that historic flooding could soon deluge parts of several Southern states along the lower Mississippi River, where floodwaters could persist for several weeks. Major flooding now occurring in Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, and other Midwestern states is a preview of what forecasters expect the rest of the spring, said Mary Erickson, deputy director of the National Weather Service.

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‘Rivers In The Sky’ Are Why California Is Flooding

/in , /by /National Geographicby Alejandra Borunda

Powerful rainstorms have battered Northern California this week. The culprit? Atmospheric rivers. The rains were born far away, deep in the tropical Pacific, where water evaporated from the warm ocean surface and fizzed into the atmosphere. The drenched air parcel flow then moved sinuously along, an “atmospheric river” winding its way toward land. When that wet air hit a coast—in this case the West Coast of the U.S.—it dumped that water out as the rain and snow that has overwhelmed Northern California this week.

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‘The Great Flood Of 1916’: Could History Repeat Itself At The Sweetwater Dam?

/in , /by /10 News (San Diego)by Jermaine Ong

The heavy rainfall of early 2019 has been a welcome sight for many in San Diego County hoping for an improvement in California’s drought conditions. However, with that rainfall comes some concern about the structural integrity of county dams and the potential for catastrophic flooding on par with a devastating event that happened over 100 years ago in the South Bay.

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