Evacuations In California

[Tiam]

I suppose the Red Cross has places set up for sleeping and eating. Some people might even be able to go to their jobs, provided they aren't in the evacuation area. Let's just hope the dam doesn't break and destroy homes. Hopefully this will be a temporary thing. Must be pretty scary for everyone though. The weather is doing what climate change causes.....which is make weather very variable....wild swings. We had sub-zero temps in early winter, but it's been in 50's and 60's lately. It's quite disconcerting, but at least we're not (in this area), having scary weather (knock on wood).

This is fairly close to me. The regional hotels are filled. Everyone is donating their time and space, even karate dojo's It's a big deal. Is this an infrastructure question? Or just a freak thing with the heavy rains and snow we've had. Rut Roh! California is a sanctuary state. Will Trump turn away?

[CathyA]

Something I'm wondering is why would anyone live downhill from a huge lake/dam like this? Do they just assume that nothing bad will ever happen? I guess it's sort of like living on or near a major earthquake fault or near a volcano. I wonder what the area was like without this.....just a lake? Maybe some of these people have lived there for generations, before the dam was built.........but the dam was probably built to protect people if the lake overflowed?

[razz]

Cathy, people buy homes right beside a busy airport and then complain about the noise and moving the airport elsewhere. They buy on waterfront that is hazardous and so on. The dam was built 60? years ago and it was forgotten that it had a limited lifespan.

[jp1]

The reality is that they had to evacuate people from 3 counties just in case the emergency spillway fails. If the entire dam ever fails the death toll would be huge. Assuming the water followed the current path it follows upon leaving the dam the entire city of Sacramento would probably be destroyed if the whole dam fails. And that's probably 70 miles away.

[sweetana3]

Cathy, I continued to live in Anchorage, Alaska and my brother still does even though we lived thru the 1964 9.2 earthquake and a volcano eruption. People live in SF and LA regardless of the earthquake risk. They live in the mountains regardless of fire risk. Almost anywhere has risk. I live in a tornado risk area and when in NC we had hurricanes.

[iris lilies]

Cathy A lives in tornado land. I know some people who say they wont live in the praries due to tornadoes, too much risk, how can people live there!???

[CathyA]

Well, I'd still prefer some of the other risks to an old big dam giving way. I know there are risks everywhere, but they aren't all the same.

[Tybee]

I think you pick your poison. If I live on a beach, for example, most of the time it would be glorious, but it's not a smart place to build a house.

[bae]

I think you pick your poison. If I live on a beach, for example, most of the time it would be glorious, but it's not a smart place to build a house.

The whole planet is a bit sketchy, what with the problems with asteroid impacts and the variable-star -> supernova business.

[mschrisgo2]

"The whole planet is a bit sketchy..." is not very comforting... but it is real. No wonder there is so much stress in the world- we really are in danger. it was less stressful when most were blissfully ignorant of all the dangers.