Holy cow is right. That is just a little terrifying. We have more rain now, more next Friday. Kind of scary.
Well, nothing like terror to make you feel alive (as long as you remain so). I miss those CA earthquakes, fires and floods. In my memory, most years provided at least one of the three when I lived in Topanga Canyon. When it was dry the experts warned of eminent danger of brush fires- after a good rain season it was the high growth of vegetation that made the fire season especially risky. Nothingâs more diverting from oneâs own incurable issues than a nice public crisis.
Oh gosh yes, consistently, Richard. Weâre grateful to have the rain. N. California is floating into the ocean.
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Highway 17 is Santa Cruzâs main connection to San Jose and the San Francisco Bay Area, and it has had several major mudslides. I had to go âover the hillâ twice last week, and traffic was standing still for at least an EXTRA half hour each way. Itâs very dramaticâthe two northbound lanes are covered with the mudslide (rocks and wet clay), so North and South are sharing the two southbound lanes. In the other areas of the pass, everyone was driving through the rain in the fast lane (but slowly) to avoid being too close to the muddy and rocky embankments that might give way at any moment. I saw seven trucks lined up to haul mud. A worker said it was like moving a mountain with a teaspoon. And tragedy struckâthey were doing these heavy operations squeezed into two narrow lanes, and a truck backed into two workers, one of whom was killed. Just terrible. Then Caltrans closed the operation because they determined that the slide might still be active. Theyâve started up work again now that itâs not raining anymore, but still only one lane each way. Meanwhile in the rest of town, many handsome old trees have fallen due to wet soil. Itâs hard to conceive of another storm comingâit feels very serious right now.
@Chikn, I can relate. My father was an engineer specializing in earthquake safety and he sensitized us kids to the dangers of overcrowded buildings, fires, etc. I used to read all his magazines about bridge failures, etc., and I just ended up with his book collection on earthquakes, etc. They are fascinating to me. Anyway, that building failure you were in must have been scary. What was the club called? How did you get out?
Apparently theyâve activated Orovilleâs Emergency Spillway for the first time since the damâs inception.
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Actually, mother nature activates the emergency spillway. I was by there today, Itâs nowhere near as bad as it seems on the news. The Thermalito forebay and afterbay can more than handle the water. The Feather river is very swollen but nobody is in danger at this point. The dam itself is just fine and in no danger of losing itâs integrity.
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Itâs true, âemergency spillwayâ just means that when the dam overflows, itâs supposed to overflow there!
Itâs when the lake overflows (which is probably what you meant) The dam itself is higher than both spillways, there is no chance of the dam overflowing.
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Lizzy, Iâm sorry if I made it seem if I were in a building collapse. It happened 3 weeks after my high school dance band played for a tea dance at I think was a Marriott. I could be wrong about that, it was a very long time ago.
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Haha, no problem. Either way, it makes you realize you canât take buildings for granted!
When I lived in Topanga Canyon, and later Malibu, landslides closing Topanga Canyon Blvd and the Pacific Coast Highway were common and required major detours for the majority who made their money towards Los Angeles. One year I bought an extra car so I could have one on each side of a slide on the PCH and get to work without a 90 minute detour. The only deaths by landslide when I lived their were the result of houses sliding into the ocean or raging rivers that normally are creeks.
My father explained to me when I was a boy that these hills are still young and havenât settled. When I moved to the east coast I saw what he meant. When a hurricane brought 13 inches of rain to my property some years back there were no major landslides, and only houses and roads near creeks suffered any damage. When I woke up after the rain and looked over my property, I had no idea how much rain had fallen- until I found a 32 gallon trash can half full of water.
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GFS has monster rain for LA next weekendâŚ3+ inches if you believe the model
http://wxweb.meteostar.com/sample/sample.shtml?text=klax
Last summer all i heard was lawnmowers because it never stopped raining up hereâŚis that the case in California? no lawns?
Not enough waterâŚtoo much water⌠trade in one extreme for the other.
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California is going to have every reservoir full again. Talk about the drought abruptly ending California is sloshing wet right now. I suppose this will mean there will be a lot of produce this year. Our water table is down a foot right now which is fairly good for Kansas.
In the north. However, the majority of our yearlong water supply comes from snow pack. Weâll see what the balance of reservoir water and snow pack is at the end of March before having a party.
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It appears that the month of March is going to have above average precipitation, too.
Letâs hope that a majority of it is snow in critical locations.
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The emergency spillway is expected to fail, at Oroville, evacuationâs are mandatory!!
OMG. Thatâs all I can say.