When thinking of natural disasters in California, wildfires, earthquakes and drought often come to mind. But a new study says that the risk has increased for a different natural disaster — a 'megaflood' washing across parts of the Golden state.
When you think of natural disasters in California, wildfires, earthquakes and drought often come to mind. But KPBS reporter Jacob Aere takes a look at a new study that says the risk has increased for a different natural disaster — a megaflood washing across parts of the Golden state.Marty Ralph is the director of the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
He helped lay the groundwork for some of the research and projections on mega-flooding events in California. “The chance of bigger floods is very real. They’re rare, but not as rare as they were before the climate has been warming,” Ralph said. “They're looking at 200-year storms being something more plausible every 50 years.”
The study said it’s possible parts of major cities such as Los Angeles and Sacramento would be underwater if the state endured the kind of winter flooding that took place during the state’s Great Flood of 1862.