San Francisco.
Sunday, January 19, 1862.
The
rains continue, and since I last wrote the floods have been far worse
than before.
Sacramento and many other towns and cities have again been overflowed,
and after the waters had abated somewhat they are again up.
That doomed city is in all probability again under water today.
Sunday, January 19, 1862.
The amount of rain that has fallen is unprecedented in the history of the state. In this city accurate observations have been kept since July, 1853. For the years since, ending with July 1 each year, the amount of rain is known. In New York state—central New York—the average amount is under thirty-eight inches, often not over thirty-three inches, sometimes as low as twenty-eight inches. This includes the melted snow. In this city it has been for the eight years closing last July, 21 3/4 inches, the lowest amount 19 3/4 inches, the highest 23 3/4. Yet this year, since November 6, when the first shower came, to January 18, it is thirty-two and three-quarters inches and it is still raining! But this is not all. Generally twice, sometimes three times, as much falls in the mining districts on the slopes of the Sierra. This year at Sonora, in Tuolumne County, between November 11, 1861, and January 14, 1862, seventy-two inches (six feet) of water has fallen, and in numbers of places over five feet! And that in a period of two months. As much rain as falls in Ithaca in two years has fallen in some places in this state in two months.1
The great central valley of the state is under water—the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys—a region 250 to 300 miles long and an average of at least twenty miles wide, a district of five thousand or six thousand square miles, or probably three to three and a half millions of acres! Although much of it is not cultivated, yet a part of it is the garden of the state. Thousands of farms are entirely under water—cattle starving and drowning.
end quote from:
http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/up_and_down_california/3-1.html
This is pretty amazing for anywhere in California. The main problem is rain like this happen for sure every 150 to 300 years. It just hasn't happened again like this since 1862. But, historically this is what happens every 150 to 300 years for thousands of years now in California!
For more information about what happened back then:
- The Great Flood of 1862 was the largest flood in the recorded history of Oregon, Nevada, and California, occurring from December 1861 to January 1862.
- Jan 16, 2011 · ... current damage$ based upon the scenario of the California floods of 1861-1862. ... the Noachian floods in 1861, California experienced a ...
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