After a severe winter of more than a dozen huge storms and Record-breaking snowfall In the Sierra Nevada, California’s big flood season is just beginning.
Last week, the National Weather Service and expect That the Merced River could flood parts of Yosemite National Park, thanks to a combination of unusually warm temperatures and melting snow. Yosemite officials announced that the park would be closed in anticipation of flooding. The Merced River runs through some of the park’s most popular areas.
early monday morning, River levels peaked at 9.86 feet (3 meters), just below official flood levels and about a foot lower than expected, and the decline is expected to continue throughout the week, according to data from the National Weather Service. Because the flows were lower than expected, the park reopened with limited hours on Sunday and will reopen fully on Monday. Visitors have been warned on social media for Pay attention to conditions in the park Expect heavy traffic and limited walking.
“The rivers run at a great height and are very dangerous,” the park’s Twitter account read mailEd Sat. “Don’t go to or near the rivers in Yosemite.”
Elsewhere in the state, lakes are back from the dead thanks to heavy rains after a long time drought. In the San Joaquin Valley, Lake Tulare, which has been a dry dock for decades, has seen a stunning resurgence after nearly a year in a row of heavy rain. Toler was drain in the 1920sbecause the rivers that fed it dammed farming and farmland grew around the lake bed.
While some flooding occurs seasonally at the bottom of the lake, the last time the lake resurfaced with such force was in the 1980s; It took two years for it to drain completely. Now, unequipped towns in and around the lake are asking for help as roads remain flooded and crops are swamped.
Experts say that more than that Water can come, as the ice from the Sierra Nevadas continues to melt. Water from that snowpack can hit the area in May and June. The sink currently sees anywhere from half an inch to an inch xWater is added every day.
“We are working with our federal and local counterparts to provide the on-the-ground assistance and support that local people need,” the governor said Gavin Newsom He said during Visit flooded areas end of April. “This sudden weather is what the climate crisis looks like.”
(tags to translation) California