This winter, California has experienced staggering records of rain and snow compared to recent years. On Thursday, February 14, 2019, Palm Springs received eight months’ worth of rain in just eight hours, according to a report by Wired. Last week’s rain also caused the cities of San Diego, Los Angeles and San Bernardino County, to experience moments of flooding, mudslides, severe flooding and even sinkholes.
The levels of rain received in just the past couple of months in California, which is concerning for many reasons, also begs us to first re-examine the state of California’s longest drought.
About 50 percent of California’s population is experiencing land that is “abnormally dry,” according to the U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM). The USDM is a nationwide map that shows the location and intensity of drought. The least threating level of drought according to the USDM is “abnormally dry,” than “moderate drought,” severe drought,” extreme drought,” and the most threating level being “exceptional drought.”
California experienced the most intense period of drought during the week of October 28, 2014, where “exceptional drought,” widespread crop/pasture loss and shortages of water creating water emergencies, affected 58 percent of the state, the USDM reported. Currently, there is no “exceptional drought” or “extreme drought” in California and only 1.6 percent of the land is in a “severe drought.”
As of February 12, 2019, about 36 percent of California’s land is not experiencing any form of a drought. Most of the population is, however, dealing with an “abnormal dryness,” which is defined as short-term dryness slowing planting, some lingering water deficits and pastures not fully recovered. San Bernardino County is currently experiencing this “abnormally dry” climate.
The recent forecast may lead us to wonder about what all the water means for California’s drought, but it also provides its residents an advisory for what may come in future storms.
Two years ago, in Butte County, California, state officials evacuated more than 180,000 people out of town due to erosion in the main spillway of the Oroville Dam. In response, officials decided to transfer the water flow into the emergency spillway. However, the emergency spillway also showed signs of erosion, prompting the ordered evacuation.
According to NBC News, week after week of heavy rain, the Oroville Dam surpassed capacity and water began to flow quickly down through the main spillway. The recent heavy rain and after the wettest rainy season on record in 2016-2017, there has been placed a tremendous amount of pressure on the effectiveness of California’s flood control systems and reservoirs.
Last week’s rain proved to be a testament to the stability and efficiency of state and local infrastructure.
A recent study conducted by UC Irvine examined 13 California reservoirs- most of which are 50 years old- and found that dam failure was most likely due to an increase in a warming climate. The study, which was published in the scientific journal Geophysical Research Letters, used the erosion at Oroville Dam as an example of what could possibly happen to other California dams.
In a recent article, the Los Angeles Times used the study to compare the failed infrastructure at Oroville Dam to Whittier Narrows Damn located in Los Angeles, which Army Corp Engineer officials say no longer meets tolerable-risk guidelines.
Other elements of infrastructure were tested in this year’s rain, including roads, flood control systems and public works.
Large sinkholes began to emerge in places like Lake Fulmore, California, where a section of the road washed away during flooding, making the road impassable, according to AccuWeather. In other local areas, smaller potholes and major flooding on some roads prompted drivers to utilize extreme caution. Reche Canyon was closed for most of the afternoon last Thursday due to mudslides, causing rocks to slide down off the mountain and onto the road.
California’s preparedness in a storm was revealed this rainy season and according to Daniel Swain, a UCLA climate scientist, what was called a 900-year storm, meaning a storm of catastrophic magnitude that has a 1 in 900 chance of occurring in any given year, has changed due to climate change.
“A newer study suggests the chances of seeing another flood of that magnitude over the next 40 years are about 50-50,” Swain said in a recent interview with the LA Times.
With the increase in the likelihood of a major storm in California, Swain added that “many pieces of water infrastructure may not be up to the challenge of the brave new climate of the 21st century.”
As much as the recent rain has been a conversation piece in your home, schools and workplace, it has also been a conversation piece among scientists, researches and national weather organizations. The discourse about the rain and what it means to California in terms of the drought and level of preparedness in a storm will bring new examination of California and its long and complicated relationship with water.