A ghost lake that disappeared decades ago in California’s central valley has come back to life after torrential rains resurrected the water and drowned thousands of acres of farmland.
Located in California’s Central Valley, Tulure Lake was once the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River. dry.
In decades since, communities and farms growing vegetables, cotton, and grazing cattle began to occupy the lake’s dry bottom—one such community is Corcoran in Kings County.
Known as California’s agricultural capital, Corcoran is now facing its farms, residents, and even a local jail being inundated by rising water in the low-lying country.
It comes as a huge pack of snow that has piled up on the Sierra Nevada over the winter, threatening more flooding, potentially tripling flooding by summer and threatening communities and could cost billions in losses.
A ghost lake that disappeared decades ago in California’s central valley has come back to life after torrential rains resurrected the water and drowned thousands of acres of farmland. An aerial view of a home in emerging Tulare Lake
Tulure Lake (pictured), sandwiched between San Francisco and Los Angeles, was once the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River. left the area dry
A rush of atmospheric rivers, along with the melting of the record snow pack, has caused the water level around Corcoran to rise dramatically, pushing the levees surrounding the community to their limits.
“All the crops are completely flooded and ruined,” said resident Martina Sealy CNN.
“Many jobs are needed for people. That’s a lot of food we deliver in California and across the country. It’s pretty scary.’
“This is just from the rain. But when the snow melts, there’s nowhere else for him to go but here.”
Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California Los Angeles, told the outlet that the ground “has literally sunk 10 or 15 feet in some places in the last 10 years.”
‘That has literally changed the topography of the historic soil. Some places are even lower than the last time there was a major flood.’
Sidonio Palmerin told CNN he remembers the “last big flood in 1983” and how it took nearly two years to dry up.
“We lost half our school population and about a third of our city population,” he said.
“Many of the people who were relocated lost their homes, their cars. It’s taken a long time to recover.’
Buildings and vehicles were partially submerged after a levee gave way in San Joaquin County’s Manteca as atmospheric river storms hit California
Satellite images taken over the past six weeks revealed the re-emergence of Lake Tulare, showing how suddenly water overflowed and settled over miles of land
City officials are trying to keep the water at bay by raising the 23 km long levees by 1 meter. By building the dikes, the city hopes for a gradual drainage
City officials are trying to keep the water at bay by raising the 14.5-mile levees by 3.5 feet. By building the dikes, the city hopes for a gradual drainage.
Due to a layer of clay that can prevent the water from quickly dripping down to the aquifer below, the timeline of when the water will fall and when farmland will return remains uncertain.
“God willing, that will protect the town of Corcoran,” King County Sheriff David Robinson said.
‘We have been lucky so far with a very slow, soft spring. But we know the heat is coming.’
“Our snowmelt this season will be an ultramarathon in terms of duration and we’re just starting the first mile,” the National Weather Service said in Reno.
Satellite images taken over the past six weeks revealed the reemergence of Lake Tulare, showing how suddenly the water overflowed and settled over miles of land.
At its widest point, the lake stretches about 10 miles from shore to shore, according to the images provided NBC news by Planet Labs.
More than 1,200 buildings in Tulare County, which is about halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco and about 78 miles inland, have been damaged by flooding so far.
The Climate Prediction Center’s May to July forecast shows that most of the western U.S. will see warmer temperatures during those three months, along with an average amount of precipitation.
It comes as a huge pack of snow that has piled up on the Sierra Nevada over the winter, threatening more flooding, potentially tripling flooding by summer and threatening communities and could cost billions in losses.
Firefighters from the Big Pine Fire Department worked to excavate a fire hydrant buried in a snowdrift in the Sierra Nevada mountains after yet another storm system brought heavy snowfall in late March
UCLA’s Daniel Swain told USA today that while “there are currently no extreme snowmelt events coming up for the next 1-2 weeks, there is still a record-breaking amount of snowfall that should come downhill sometime between now and mid-summer.”
California’s snow-water equivalent level is a record 258 percent higher than normal, the U.S. Drought Monitor told the outlet.
Swain added that a warm atmospheric river storm is still possible in the coming weeks, as well as a possible heat wave in May.
“This will continue to be an important story for weeks to come, even as the rest of the state dries out and recovers from this winter’s damaging and disruptive events.