California – Fears of disaster

Now spring is coming to California and that could have serious consequences, reports say Washington Post.

Because after several years of drought and little rain, there was no shortage of snow or rain this winter. This has resulted in unusually large amounts of snow falling in the Sierra Nevada mountain range, and many experts are now sounding the alarm.

If the heat arrived quickly, it would send a massive amount of water into the vulnerable low valleys below — and toward flood-control systems that in many cases are “woefully ill-equipped” to handle the volumes of water, the American newspaper wrote in a long article on Saturday. .

It could cause billions in losses

And where the water hits is almost unimportant to the United States. Potential disaster threatens the Central Valley, a densely populated agricultural region that produces a quarter of the country’s food.

Thus, the melting of ice has the potential to cause billions in losses and damage, flooding cities and affecting tens of thousands of residents, according to the Washington Post.

Many of the places the water will hit will struggle to handle such large volumes of water.

– This system has been deprioritized, and rethinking and working with it has never been a priority. It has consequences, says Jeffrey Mount of the California Water Policy Center.

He says they knew such a catastrophe would happen and that rural communities would be affected.

– It’s hard to predict

Experts say Los Angeles Times The biggest danger comes if temperatures reach 30 degrees and stay that way for a longer period.

— That’s when you’d expect those currents to really start to pick up, Jessica Chiari, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, tells the paper.

You’d usually see it in June, the meteorologist says, but it’s hard to predict exactly when you’ll see a lot of melting.

It’s mid-March, said Daniel Swain, a climatologist at the University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles Times It could go two ways.

– It will happen, but the question is whether it will happen quickly or slowly, he told the newspaper.

If the snow melted gradually, there would be less worry about flooding, but if it melted quickly, there could be major flooding, says Swain.

surrounded by water

But many places have already been hit hard by the heavy rains. Lake Tulare in the San Jaquin Valley is a good example of this.

The Guardian writes that the source of fresh water, which was drained hundreds of years ago by agriculture, has now risen from the dead.

They talk to Kayode Kadara who is worried about the high water near his home. Just a few months ago, it was a dry area.

– Now we are surrounded by water, Kadara tells the newspaper.

The country has brought in sandbags by helicopter, rebuilt dams and erected walls to try to keep the water from backing up.

– It is difficult to control water masses at such times. Kadara says it’s unprecedented and new for all of us.