Re: 'Catastrophic level of water': Central California battles farmland flooding

[But the fish]

On 10 Mar 2022, PaxPerPoten <PaxPe...@magik.beanz.net> posted some
news:t0dro7$2d15d$1...@news.freedyn.de:

> Maybe they'll just dig big ditches and shoot the cocksuckers

The latest atmospheric river storm to batter California has led to
evacuations and flooded farmland. As the snowpack on the Sierra Nevada
mountains melts, flooding in the Central Valley will remain a concern for
weeks and months to come, experts say.

There has been a "catastrophic level of water," Tricia Stever Blattler,
executive director of the Tulare County Farm Bureau, which represents more
than 1,100 farms and ranches in the San Joaquin Valley county, told ABC
News.

Channels that are designed to handle flood waters are "all running very
high and very, very fast," with many experiencing "structural breakdowns,"
she said.

"We're still just experiencing so much more water in these storms than can
possibly be held back by these dams," she said, calling this a "50-year
event."

"There's a lot of cropland underwater right now," Stever Blattler said. "I
can't even begin to tell you the numbers -- north of 50,000 acres. Maybe
closer to 75,000, 100,000."

Recent floods have led to an evacuation order for parts of Tulare County,
with the west side particularly hard-hit by floodwaters after breaches in
waterways. Dairies also had to evacuate their cows due to flooding and
some creameries have had to suspend operations, which could further impact
dairy operations, Stever Blattler said.

Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux said in a video message earlier this
week that there haven't been any fatalities reported, "but what we are
seeing is devastating impacts to our agricultural community and farmland."

In neighboring Kings County, the former Tulare Lakebed -- what was once
the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi before being drained
more than 100 years ago for farming -- has also been filling back up in
recent weeks with flows from several rivers and creeks amid the onslaught
of rain.

Crops including tomatoes, onion, garlic and cotton are grown in the
region, though planting in some parts will likely be delayed due to the
floods, Stever Blattler said. Standing water in lower-gradient sections of
Tulare County could also damage the area's almond, pistachio and orange
trees, she said.

"Crop acreage will be diminished for a while," she said.

As the region recovers from the latest round of flooding rain to hit the
state, officials are also preparing for the record historic snowpack on
the Sierra Nevada to melt -- bringing with it the threat of additional
flooding.

In anticipation of a potentially record Kings River runoff season, the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Sacramento District this week began a "rare
flood release" from Pine Flat Dam into the old Tulare Lakebed, the Kings
River Conservation District said.

The flood release, which is to make room in the reservoir for additional
rain and melting snow, could last until the summer, officials said.

"Everybody's working together around the clock to share data to inform
those decisions," Rick Brown, a spokesperson for the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, Sacramento District, told ABC News. "Obviously, we're looking
at the Sierra Nevada mountains -- we've got enough snow up there to fill
up our reservoirs probably a few times over."

<https://abcnews.go.com/US/catastrophic-level-water-central-california-
battles-farmland-flooding/story?id=98042421>

[Klaus Schadenfreude]

On Thu, 23 Mar 2023 21:44:53 +0100 (CET), But the fish
<pelosi-lac...@latimes.com> wrote:

>"There's a lot of cropland underwater right now," Stever Blattler said. "I
>can't even begin to tell you the numbers -- north of 50,000 acres. Maybe
>closer to 75,000, 100,000."

California has 43 million acres used for agriculture. Of this, 16
million acres are grazing land and 27 million acres are cropland.

No big deal.