posted January 18, 2011 12:13 AM            

This is an article I saw on yahoo. Is California due for a major disaster?

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110117/us_yblog_thelookout/scientists-warn-california-could-be-struck-by-winter-superstorm

A group of more than 100 scientists and experts say in a new report that California faces the risk of a massive "superstorm" that could flood a quarter of the state's homes and cause $300 billion to $400 billion in damage. Researchers point out that the potential scale of destruction in this storm scenario is four or five times the amount of damage that could be wrought by a major earthquake.

It sounds like the plot of an apocalyptic action movie, but scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey warned federal and state emergency officials that California's geological history shows such "superstorms" have happened in the past, and should be added to the long list of natural disasters to worry about in the Golden State.
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The threat of a cataclysmic California storm has been dormant for the past 150 years. Geological Survey director Marcia K. McNutt told the New York Times that a 300-mile stretch of the Central Valley was inundated from 1861-62. The floods were so bad that the state capital had to be moved to San Francisco, and Governor Leland Stanford had to take a rowboat to his own inauguration, the report notes. Even larger storms happened in past centuries, over the dates 212, 440, 603, 1029, 1418, and 1605, according to geological evidence.

The risk is gathering momentum now, scientists say, due to rising temperatures in the atmosphere, which has generally made weather patterns more volatile.

The scientists built a model that showed a storm could last for more than 40 days and dump 10 feet of water on the state. The storm would be goaded on by an "atmospheric river" that would move water "at the same rate as 50 Mississippis discharging water into the Gulf of Mexico," according to the AP. Winds could reach 125 miles per hour, and landslides could compound the damage, the report notes.

Such a superstorm is hypothetical but not improbable, climate researchers warn. "We think this event happens once every 100 or 200 years or so, which puts it in the same category as our big San Andreas earthquakes," Geological Survey scientist Lucy Jones said in a press release.

posted January 18, 2011 12:49 AM            

Thanks.. I did the chart on astro..

posted January 18, 2011 01:18 AM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Lonake:
Oh they're so up $hit creek.
Debt and the budget is one issue, horrid horrid credit rating. 25 billion or so in the red.
Another issue is one disaster right after another, whether they be earthquakes, fires, mudslides, floods, you name it, it all wastes tons of money and gets in the way.
You could plan a whole summer vacation just driving around visiting wildfires.

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posted January 18, 2011 09:37 AM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Lonake:
Are you in Northern or Southern?
If you're in Southern California and have never seen a wildfire then maybe you don't get out or watch the news..
I could believe it if you're in Northern, I hardly ever hear about anything happening there.

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Im in Southern Ca.. Yes I hear about the fires.. But they are in the outskirts of Los Angeles, usually no wheres ville, not in the actual City of Los Angeles..

I personally have never been affected by any fires,floods, or what not..

I agree with Holly, Cali is not a bad place to live, it was 84 degrees here yesterday..
Where else can you go to the beach, and the snow in the same day

As for the earthquakes, there has been a few that we bigger than others.. But usually when an earthquake happens, everyone just sits there, and so ooo an earthquake..