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Environment & Energy
Related: About this forumCalifornia Megaflood: Lessons from A Forgotten Catastrophe
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=atmospheric-rivers-california-megaflood-lessons-from-forgotten-catastropheA 43-day storm that began in December 1861 put central and southern California underwater for up to six months, and it could happen again
By B. Lynn Ingram
Geologic evidence shows that truly massive floods, caused by rainfall alone, have occurred in California every 100 to 200 years. Such floods are likely caused by atmospheric rivers: narrow bands of water vapor about a mile above the ocean that extend for thousands of kilometers.
The atmospheric river storms featured in a January 2013 article in Scientific American that I co-wrote with Michael Dettinger, The Coming Megafloods, are responsible for most of the largest historical floods in many western states. The only megaflood to strike the American West in recent history occurred during the winter of 1861-62. California bore the brunt of the damage. This disaster turned enormous regions of the state into inland seas for months, and took thousands of human lives. The costs were devastating: one quarter of Californias economy was destroyed, forcing the state into bankruptcy.
Today, the same regions that were submerged in 1861-62 are home to Californias fastest-growing cities. Although this flood is all but forgotten, important lessons from this catastrophe can be learned. Much of the insight can be gleaned from harrowing accounts in diary entries, letters and newspaper articles, as well as the book Up and Down California in 1860-1864, written by William Brewer, who surveyed the new states natural resources with state geologist Josiah Whitney.
In 1861, farmers and ranchers were praying for rain after two exceptionally dry decades. In December their prayers were answered with a vengeance, as a series of monstrous Pacific storms slammedone after anotherinto the West coast of North America, from Mexico to Canada. The storms produced the most violent flooding residents had ever seen, before or since....
By B. Lynn Ingram
Geologic evidence shows that truly massive floods, caused by rainfall alone, have occurred in California every 100 to 200 years. Such floods are likely caused by atmospheric rivers: narrow bands of water vapor about a mile above the ocean that extend for thousands of kilometers.
The atmospheric river storms featured in a January 2013 article in Scientific American that I co-wrote with Michael Dettinger, The Coming Megafloods, are responsible for most of the largest historical floods in many western states. The only megaflood to strike the American West in recent history occurred during the winter of 1861-62. California bore the brunt of the damage. This disaster turned enormous regions of the state into inland seas for months, and took thousands of human lives. The costs were devastating: one quarter of Californias economy was destroyed, forcing the state into bankruptcy.
Today, the same regions that were submerged in 1861-62 are home to Californias fastest-growing cities. Although this flood is all but forgotten, important lessons from this catastrophe can be learned. Much of the insight can be gleaned from harrowing accounts in diary entries, letters and newspaper articles, as well as the book Up and Down California in 1860-1864, written by William Brewer, who surveyed the new states natural resources with state geologist Josiah Whitney.
In 1861, farmers and ranchers were praying for rain after two exceptionally dry decades. In December their prayers were answered with a vengeance, as a series of monstrous Pacific storms slammedone after anotherinto the West coast of North America, from Mexico to Canada. The storms produced the most violent flooding residents had ever seen, before or since....
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California Megaflood: Lessons from A Forgotten Catastrophe (Original Post)
friendly_iconoclast
Dec 2012
OP
sakabatou
(42,083 posts)1. If that happens
food prices, among other things, will skyrocket.
Exen Trik
(103 posts)2. I wonder if climate change makes that happeneing again more or less likely?
I doubt we can even know that unless it happens - which is a problem in its own right.
OnlinePoker
(5,702 posts)3. Don't worry
It doesn't matter if it's a natural event that has occurred in the past...it will automatically be blamed on climate change.
raouldukelives
(5,178 posts)4. Up and Down California in 1860-1864 is a great book.
What a wonderland it was.