Huge snowpack has begun to melt, but most of it — and flood risk in the San Joaquin Valley and Tulare Basin — remains
The huge Sierra Nevada snowpack, brought by a parade of atmospheric river storms that ended California’s drought this winter, isn’t a thing of the past now that warmer weather is here: 80% of the snow hasn’t melted yet.
Statewide, the Sierra Nevada snowpack was 254% of its historical average Monday, the second highest May 1 reading since 1950 when modern records began, behind only 1983, when it was 289%. That’s one of the reasons that flood experts are worried about significant flooding in the coming weeks and months in the Tulare Lake Basin and Southern San Joaquin Valley. Those low-lying areas between Fresno and Bakersfield sit downhill of the Southern Sierra, which received the most snow this winter.
When all the snow does begin melting more rapidly, it isn’t expected to cause flooding in the Bay Area or Los Angeles. Currently, an estimated 74,000 acres of farmland in Kings County and Tulare County is now under roughly 3 feet of water, according to DWR, due to heavy rains in mid-March from atmospheric river storms. The low-lying areas have not been able to drain properly.
State officials from water agencies and the state Office of Emergency Services have been working with local police, planners and other officials in the area for the past month to map out possible evacuations, identify areas at risk like wastewater treatment plants, and stockpile sandbags and temporary flood retaining walls.
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