Climate Point: Deadly flooding hits California
Welcome to Climate Point, your weekly guide to climate, energy and the environment. I'm Erin Rode from Palm Springs, California.
Deadly flooding struck California this week as the state faces a "parade of storms" this month, causing at least 18 deaths and damages exceeding $1 billion. Wet winters and dry summers always have been part of California's weather patterns, but that pattern contains a lot of variability, writes Elizabeth Weise and Dinah Voyles Pulver for USA Today. The historical record contains periods of severe drought as well as periods of extreme wetness — and over the past several years, the state has experienced extreme drought. In early 2022, the January-March period represented the driest period for that time frame in recorded state history.
It's too early to determine whether the recent winter storms were driven by climate changes, writes Weise and Voyles Pulver. But climate scientists say that overall, California's weather is becoming more variable and more intense — a long-predicted effect of global warming. This more variable weather means the state is somehow getting both drier and wetter, with more extreme drought periods and more extreme storms. California climate scientists call this pattern "precipitation whiplash."
The storms have devastated communities across the state this week: In the coastal hamlet of Montecito, the entire town was ordered to evacuate on the fifth anniversary of deadly mudslides in 2018 that killed 23 people. In Ventura County, buildings and roads flooded and part of a train bridge collapsed. A tiny town of 4,000 people near Merced was entirely underwater on Tuesday, and about 90% of residents in the unincorporated community are renters unlikely to have flood insurance, as the Los Angeles Times reported.
The storm has been particularly devastating for the more than 170,000 people experiencing homelessness in California, nearly 70% of whom sleep in tents, vehicles, or public spaces, often along roads and riverbeds that were prone to flooding this week. In Ventura County, firefighters rescued at least 14 people from a homeless encampment located along the Ventura River, and in Sacramento County, at least two people were killed near the American River when storm-weakened trees fell onto their tents, according to The New York Times. The flooding is bringing renewed questions on how the state will handle its dual crises of extreme weather and homelessness.
Here are some other stories of interest from across the U.S. this week:
- In New England, power plants are facing millions of dollars in penalties after failing to provide necessary capacity during a Christmas Eve storm, writes Hadley Barndollar for USA Today.
- In New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul said the state will allocate $200 million in electric utility bills relief to New Yorkers who make under $75,000, writes Eduardo Cuevas for USA Today Network New York.
- Federal officials are considering a major expansion of designated solar zones on public lands across the West, writes Janet Wilson for The Desert Sun.
- Researchers and businesses are weighing possibilities for sustainable aviation fuel, writes Joan Meiners for The Arizona Republic.
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