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California flooding: 80% of Sierra Nevada…
When all the snow does begin melting more rapidly, it isn’t expected to cause flooding in the Bay Area or Los Angeles.
But flood fears are very high in Kings, Fresno, Kern and Tulare counties where the 10-million-acre Tulare Lake once flourished as the largest lake west of the Mississippi River before being pumped dry over several decades in the late 1800s by farmers who diverted rivers that once filled it.
“While providing a significant boost to California’s water supplies, this year’s massive snowpack is posing continued flood risks in the San Joaquin Valley,” said DWR Director Karla Nemeth.
Currently, an estimated 74,000 acres of farmland in Kings County and Tulare County is now under roughly 3 feet of water, according to DWR, due to heavy rains in mid-March from atmospheric river storms. The low-lying areas have not been able to drain properly.
So far, as rivers like the Kern and Kaweah have begun to flow faster from the melting Sierra snowpack, reservoir operators have been able to stop new flooding by releasing water to lower reservoir levels, and capturing most of the incoming water.
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I was watching videos on CNN of the 74,000 acres under around 3 feet of water and semi Trucks and cars trying to drive through this flooded area on paved roads but slowly. Some cars bogged down and the water stopped them but most semi trucks seemed high enough off the ground to make it through on one of the paved roads. The problem is that these flooded 74,000 acres could be flooded for up to 2 years with the water still coming towards them from the snow pack. Part of the reason is farmers (over the last over 100 years have pumped the aquifer almost dry under the area and this has caused a 10 to 15 foot drop in the land and earth so there is nowhere for the water to go and Tulare Lake might be coming back with a vengeance this summer which used to be the largest lake west of the Mississippi River until the late 1800s.
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