California Flooding

[HDRider]

How bad is it? Who is in it from CT?

 

[lavacarancher]

California is either burning, flooding or falling into the Pacific. Maybe it's the fruits and nuts they have out there. :lol2:

 

[Dave]

California isn't the only place in the west flooding. They just have more people and the new media. Well, and a dam that is about to break. Northern Nevada has flooding in the high desert where you would never expect flooding. I see there is flooding along the Oregon / Idaho line. A combination of very high snowfall and very cold temperatures that froze the ground. Now they have warmer temperatures and rain. All that water has to go somewhere. The ground is still froze so it can't absorb into the ground.

 

[HDRider]

I guess all this can refill those empty reservoirs. It'd be nice if they had something in place or a way to replenish aquifers.

 

[M-5]

this is a mighty big pond , This is gonna be Major devastation .

 

[greybeard]

I guess all this can refill those empty reservoirs. It'd be nice if they had something in place or a way to replenish aquifers.

Lakes do replenish aquifers, if there is a primary or secondary aquifer under or near the lake--the recharge zone.

Lake Medina in Texas, built partly on the recharge zone of the Edwards, indirectly provides about 1/3 of the Edwards Aquifer's water every year via the Trinity Aquifer. There are all kinds of ways to help recharge an aquifer.
http://twri.tamu.edu/newsletters/texasw ... -v16n4.pdf

 

[Dave]

I guess all this can refill those empty reservoirs. It'd be nice if they had something in place or a way to replenish aquifers.

The issue is that those reservoirs are already full and there is more water coming. That one in California that is in danger of breaking has enough water behind it to cover the entire state of Connecticut one foot deep.

 

[HDRider]

I guess all this can refill those empty reservoirs. It'd be nice if they had something in place or a way to replenish aquifers.

The issue is that those reservoirs are already full and there is more water coming. That one in California that is in danger of breaking has enough water behind it to cover the entire state of Connecticut one foot deep.

Is that true for all the state or just that part?

I thought they were having some kind of catastrophic drought.

 

[Dave]

I guess all this can refill those empty reservoirs. It'd be nice if they had something in place or a way to replenish aquifers.

The issue is that those reservoirs are already full and there is more water coming. That one in California that is in danger of breaking has enough water behind it to cover the entire state of Connecticut one foot deep.

Is that true for all the state or just that part?

I thought they were having some kind of catastrophic drought.

They have been having a drought but this winter things have changed. The last snow pack report I read most of the Sierras were around 160-170% of normal snow pack. That means the lowlands have been catching an equally high amount of rainfall. This is certainly true in Northern California. Since about early December a lot of the storms that normally hit us have been dipping further south.

 

[cow pollinater]

The history of water in CA is boom or bust. The central valley produces one third of the nations food supply but it just flat doesn't rain there between about late April and late October. A good rain year where I was is 13" and as you would expect the terrain is only capable of handling right around that much. The valley floor is around 300' above sea level in most places but the highest point in the lower 48 is only about twenty five miles as the crow flies from the valley floor. The dams were built to hold runoff from the snowpack in the massive mountain range to the east for use over the summer months. Over winter the water flows on through and farmers flood irrigate to recharge the aquifer and then about this time of year they start filling the reservoirs. Not so far in the past there was a humongous lake in the southern end of the valley that was dried up by the dams.
That system works well most years. This year they had heavy rain followed by record snowpack followed by rain to melt the snowpack and more warm rain on the way and everyone was so edgy after the last five years of drought that they wanted to store every drop they could so they filled up early. Combine that with a state government so wasteful that they can't handle keeping the basics like roads in order much less something like the tallest dam in the US and it's a recipe for disaster.
I've been hearing complaints for years about the condition of the dams in CA. It falls on deaf ears. The government there is to busy with projects like high speed rail to pay attention to something as silly as water storage and the infrastructure already in place.

 

[Nesikep]

13".. that's about what we consider a wet year... I remember in about 1996 we had 170% normal snowpack here coupled with a very cold spring until about june.. then the big sponge up on the mountain was saturated and it all came down in about 3 days... the worst night of it I was at our intake all night with chainsaws, running them underwater to clear the debris that was coming down so it wouldn't wipe the entire works out... The culvert at the road plugged up and it overflowed, washing the road out until it kinda looked like Niagara Falls.

 

[SIMMGAL]

So, with that being said, which do you prefer-droughts or floods?

We had a bad flood this past year. By bad I mean water was pouring into my basement. But we didn't have go feed hay until up into December and my herd was just turned into an new pasture with actual stockpiled grass..in February! I'll take that any year.

Sounds like CA can't win lately! Best of luck to y'all out there!

 

[Dave]

So, with that being said, which do you prefer-droughts or floods?

We had a bad flood this past year. By bad I mean water was pouring into my basement. But we didn't have go feed hay until up into December and my herd was just turned into an new pasture with actual stockpiled grass..in February! I'll take that any year.

Sounds like CA can't win lately! Best of luck to y'all out there!

Floods are one thing, they happen now and then and you just deal with it. This Oroville dam lets loose is entirely a different thing. That happens and it will be a 30 foot tall wall of water wiping out everything in its path.

 

[SIMMGAL]

So, with that being said, which do you prefer-droughts or floods?

We had a bad flood this past year. By bad I mean water was pouring into my basement. But we didn't have go feed hay until up into December and my herd was just turned into an new pasture with actual stockpiled grass..in February! I'll take that any year.

Sounds like CA can't win lately! Best of luck to y'all out there!

Floods are one thing, they happen now and then and you just deal with it. This Oroville dam lets loose is entirely a different thing. That happens and it will be a 30 foot tall wall of water wiping out everything in its path.

Yeah that's a little bit more water than your average flood! I'm talking wet years vs dry ones. That sure is scary to picture!! :shock:

 

[True Grit Farms]

So, with that being said, which do you prefer-droughts or floods?

We had a bad flood this past year. By bad I mean water was pouring into my basement. But we didn't have go feed hay until up into December and my herd was just turned into an new pasture with actual stockpiled grass..in February! I'll take that any year.

Sounds like CA can't win lately! Best of luck to y'all out there!

Floods are one thing, they happen now and then and you just deal with it. This Oroville dam lets loose is entirely a different thing. That happens and it will be a 30 foot tall wall of water wiping out everything in its path.

If that happens hopefully California will of left the US of A by then.

 

[sske]

My place is a little under 30 miles from the reservoir, it's pretty bad, Oroville itself looks like a ghost town, along with the rest of the towns on the river. All the local schools are closed down due to the evacuations, over 180,000 people have evacuated so far. People are hauling horses and cattle like crazy trying to get them to higher ground. Our local gas station is completely out of fuel and waiting on a delivery. The local stores are pretty well emptied out too. It'll be interesting to see how well their half be nice repairs on the spillway work.

 

[Caustic Burno]

My place is a little under 30 miles from the reservoir, it's pretty bad, Oroville itself looks like a ghost town, along with the rest of the towns on the river. All the local schools are closed down due to the evacuations, over 180,000 people have evacuated so far. People are hauling horses and cattle like crazy trying to get them to higher ground. Our local gas station is completely out of fuel and waiting on a delivery. The local stores are pretty well emptied out too. It'll be interesting to see how well their half be nice repairs on the spillway work.

Is it true what they are reporting that the state chose not to spend the money to repair

 

[sske]

My place is a little under 30 miles from the reservoir, it's pretty bad, Oroville itself looks like a ghost town, along with the rest of the towns on the river. All the local schools are closed down due to the evacuations, over 180,000 people have evacuated so far. People are hauling horses and cattle like crazy trying to get them to higher ground. Our local gas station is completely out of fuel and waiting on a delivery. The local stores are pretty well emptied out too. It'll be interesting to see how well their half be nice repairs on the spillway work.

Is it true what they are reporting that the state chose not to spend the money to repair

From what I've heard it seems to be true for the most part

 

[Jogeephus]

I think some heads will roll on this one especially with the lack of dam inspections and the water guys saying this would never happen and their calls for people not to worry in the wake of this mess.

 

[dieselbeef]

man made disaster...criminal charges should be brought..i cannot even imagine how p'od id be