California Faces , Climate Extremes.
NBC reports that California has been struck
by a series of powerful storms supercharged
by atmospheric rivers since Christmas.
Those storms have been the cause of at least
17 deaths, mudslides, closed roads and hundreds of
thousands of people experiencing power outages.
NBC reports that three more
massive storms have been forecast
for California in the coming days.
Despite the ongoing flooding, leaders in California
are still preparing for the possibility of continued
drought this summer in parts of the state.
California is experiencing
— coincidentally — both a drought
emergency and a flood emergency, Karla Nemeth, director of the state
Department of Water Resources, via NBC.
California is experiencing
— coincidentally — both a drought
emergency and a flood emergency, Karla Nemeth, director of the state
Department of Water Resources, via NBC.
NBC reports that the climate extremes
in California have forced communities
to balance dueling priorities.
We are in this constant tension.
You want to capture every drop you can.
However, these are multipurpose dams —
they also have to do flood control.
To do flood control, you want
dams as empty as possible, Jeffrey Mount, a senior fellow at the Water Policy Center
of the Public Policy Institute of California, via NBC.
While it remains crucial to store water for hot, dry
summers, some reservoirs have been forced
to release rainwater in order to manage floods.
According to NBC, much of the rainfall that has
fallen as a result of the atmospheric river storms
will not be stored for later use in the summer.
The vast majority of the water
on the land is running off.
There is no economically
viable way to store it, Jeffrey Mount, a senior fellow at the Water Policy Center
of the Public Policy Institute of California, via NBC