The worst may be yet to come. California Department of Water Resources officials are predicting that the snowpack will drive more runoff into the Tulare Basin than the atmospheric storms that already deluged the area.
Peak flows on the largest rivers that feed the Tulare Basin — including the Kings, Kaweah and Kern — are projected to arrive in May or June, said David Rizzardo, a hydrology manager at the department, during a Tuesday media briefing.
Each of these rivers historically flowed into the Tulare Lake, which disappeared after farmers rerouted and diverted so much water beginning in the late 1800s that it dried up. The lake reappears periodically during extremely wet seasons.
This week, during a lull between the damaging winter storms and the spring melt, communities were racing to assess flood risk this summer and bolster their defenses.
“We’re taking advantage of the dry weather,” said Savanna Birchfield, a public information officer for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection incident command team responding to the crisis.
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Birchfield said emergency responders have been working to raise a critical roadway between Allensworth and Alpaugh, two towns that have already been hit by damaging floods. Raising the roadway should give residents a safe exit route if they need to flee. Workers are also reinforcing levees and constructing portable muscle wall barriers in an attempt to control future flows.
In nearby Kings County, residents expressed fear and angst over what is to come in the next months during a Wednesday community meeting.
“We don’t know how much we’re going to get and when we’re going to get it, but it’s going to come and we want to be prepared when it gets here,” said Doug Verboon, a Kings County supervisor.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
