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LA County Captured Enough Rainfall This Week to Provide Water To 65,600 Residents For a Year

While this week’s atmospheric river drenched Southern California with record-breaking rainfall, some water managers were busy capturing some of that runoff to save for dry days ahead. Others were busy fending off an environmental disaster.

Morning Report: Mayor Gloria Warns Residents to Be Ready for Evacuation

Ahead of another severe storm warning, Mayor Todd Gloria issued an evacuation warning Wednesday to low-lying areas of the city, devastated by flooding last week. The evacuation is currently voluntary, said the mayor, and designed to keep the public ready should an evacuation become mandatory.

Orange County Water District Looks to Replenish Groundwater Basin for the 2nd Time This Year

The Orange County Water District said it’s grateful for all the rain this year.

Adam Hutchinson, recharge planning manager for OCWD said in the past, there’s been years when they’ve had almost no storm water to collect.

He said it is crucial to retain as much of it as possible when we have it.

L.A. Has $556 Million and a Plan to Capture More Storm Water. But Will They Ever Do It?

After a series of storms drenched the region with a record 9.4 inches of rain in December, the Los Angeles River became a roiling, violent torrent in its concrete channel, before finally spilling into the Pacific Ocean.

The storms transported an estimated 29.5 billion gallons of fresh water into Long Beach Harbor — 62% more water than the nation’s largest desalination plant in San Diego produces in an entire year. It was enough to supply as many as 181,000 families annually.

Consortium Wants to Cut Down L.A. County Arboretum Trees to Make Room for Storm Water Treatment

Officials at the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden are in an uproar over a plan to manage storm water and boost climate resiliency by cutting down “specimen trees” — some 70 years old and more than 100 feet tall — to make room for groundwater recharge ponds and a pump station.

Thousands Fled for Their Lives When Two Michigan Dams Collapsed. More Disasters Are Coming, Experts Say

The urgent evacuation of 10,000 people from communities below two failing dams in central Michigan last month prevented the loss of life, but the collapsed dams expelled billions of gallons of water from two large lakes, sending them hurtling downstream in a powerful rush of destruction. Water ripped buildings off their foundations, smashed and twisted roads and bridges, damaged or destroyed an estimated 2,500 properties and triggered fears of contamination as it swept by a chemical plant and hazardous waste sites and submerged downtown Midland — a city of 40,000 people — under 9 feet of water.