California under flood threat releases millions of gallons from reservoir, despite drought
LOS ANGELES — As a series of atmospheric rivers pummeled California with heavy rain and residents braced for potential flooding, on Friday the state began releasing millions of gallons of water from a major reservoir — despite ongoing drought conditions.
LOS ANGELES — As a series of atmospheric rivers pummeled California with heavy rain and residents braced for potential flooding, on Friday the state began releasing millions of gallons of water from a major reservoir — despite ongoing drought conditions.
The release at Lake Oroville, the state's second-largest reservoir and home to the nation's tallest dam, was the first since 2019 and came as a precaution against flooding to communities downstream in case of a possible spillover.
The shift from water conservation to flood prevention is just the latest in a winter weather whiplash in California, where 85% of the state was in severe drought three months ago, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Now just 19% of the state falls into that category.
“Water management in California is complicated, and it’s made even more complex during these challenging climate conditions where we see swings between very, very dry; very, very wet; back to dry,” Karla Nemeth, director of the Department of Water Resources, said at a Friday briefing. “We’re now back into wet.”
An atmospheric river known as the “Pineapple Express” because it carries warm, subtropical moisture across the Pacific from near Hawaii, is expected to melt snow at lower elevations. California's mountain ranges have built up significant snowpack this winter because of an onslaught of rain from nine atmospheric rivers and from storms fueled by blasts of arctic air.
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