Experts in the San Francisco area are planning for a flood “of Noah’s Ark proportions” which they believe could be a possible consequence of global warming. To anyone who lives in the area, that may seem unlikely, especially given that much of California has spent the last few years clenched by a severe drought.
But that doesn’t mean that rain isn’t coming – and when it does, the parched, crusty earth won’t be able to absorb much water.
From The Daily Bulletin:
Last year, a USGS-led team of 300 scientists created a detailed scenario for a 7.8-magnitude earthquake in Southern California, followed by a “ShakeOut” drill of 5.4 million residents, a disaster preparedness record.
Many of the same scientists are now fashioning a hypothetical ARk Storm scenario similar to the mother of all known California floods – the Great Flood of 1861-62.
That flood, occurring during 45 days of rain, turned California into an inland sea. It also forced Gov. Leland Stanford to take a rowboat to his inauguration, wiped out a third of taxable land and virtually bankrupted the state.
Despite more than a century of flood channels, debris dams and levees built since, such a flood could wreak $25 billion in damage to the state capital alone, according to the Geological Survey.
And because of global warming, scientists forecast such a colossal gully-washer born by the “pineapple express” jet stream to happen sooner rather than later.
Winter rainfall is expected to increase dramatically on the West Coast with climate change, but summers will still be incredibly hot and dry. Add wildfires into the mix – which cause erosion – and you’ve got prime conditions for floods that, according to NASA scientist Bill Patzert, “will make Katrina look minor league.”
10 teams of experts are currently working on ways to prepare. They’ll be revealing their recommendations in the summer of 2010.
Link [The Daily Bulletin]
Photo credit: Science Daily/FEMA
