Thousands of miles of California levees are feeling the strain of age, extreme drought and punishing atmospheric rivers.
The intense downpours — coming after an earlier deluge days ago — pushed some rivers toward flood stage, prompting a string of evacuations from towns along the Russian River to communities in Santa Cruz County and beyond.
Susan Roork stopped by the area’s only open store. She said she and her husband are “keeping an eye on every agency website we can” to monitor the storm, the rising river and the strength of the levee. That forecast, combined with visceral images of the destruction caused by failed levees during Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans earlier that year, prompted federal legislation and local tax increases to generate funds needed to make critical improvements in certain areas.
“We know that climate change is supercharging this extreme weather,” California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot said during Wednesday’s news conference. “We find ourselves in the third year of an intense drought — and in fact the last three years have been the driest three-year period in the state’s history. And at the same time, of course, now we navigate this series of atmospheric rivers.
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