California Mega floods: Lessons to be Learned From an Earlier Cataclysm

August 21, 2023 — bunkerville

A 43-day storm that began in December 1861 put central and southern California underwater for up to six months, and it could happen again so goes the headline story from a 2013 Scientific American article.  It turns out California has a long history of major drought followed by massive flooding. It is a great read and well worth the time.

Before everyone gets their knickers in a knot that global warming is causing this latest flooding in California, an almost exact description of the water destruction occurred in 1862. Flooding today is described as from a hurricane. But if predictions hold true, this may only be the beginning.

California’s Great Flood of 1862

This was the big one. It put entire cities underwater and formed an inland sea across the middle of California. And it’ll probably happen again. We’re due. Video produced in 2017.

I thought it worth the time to revisit Bunks earlier post.

First the fake news warning:

Nonexistent Global Warming Crisis Blamed for Trouble at Oroville Dam “Oroville Is a Warning for California Dams, as Climate Change Adds Stress,” the New York Times reported.
“Broken California Dam Is a Sign of Emergencies to Come,” reads an article published in Scientific American, adding that “[c]limate change is leading to more extreme rainfalls that can overwhelm infrastructure.”
Actually,

California has a history of abruptly switching from drought conditions to torrential rain.

Brewer describes a great sheet of brown rippling water extending from the Coast Range to the Sierra Nevada. One-quarter of the state’s estimated 800,000 cattle drowned in the flood, marking the beginning of the end of the cattle-based ranchero society in California. One-third of the state’s property was destroyed, and one home in eight was destroyed completely or carried away by the floodwaters.california-b

The Coming Megafloods, talks about what is responsible for most of the largest historical floods in many western states. The megaflood to strike the American West in recent history occurred during the winter of 1861-62. California bore the brunt of the damage. This disaster turned enormous regions of the state into inland seas for months, and took thousands of human lives. The costs were devastating: one quarter of California’s economy was destroyed, forcing the state into bankruptcy.

Today, the same regions that were submerged in 1861-62 are home to California’s fastest-growing cities. Although this flood is all but forgotten, important lessons from this catastrophe can be learned. Much of the insight can be gleaned from harrowing accounts in diary entries, letters and newspaper articles, as well as the book Up and Down California in 1860-1864, written by William Brewer, who surveyed the new state’s natural resources with state geologist Josiah Whitney.

In 1861, farmers and ranchers were praying for rain after two exceptionally dry decades. In December their prayers were answered with a vengeance, as a series of monstrous Pacific storms slammed—one after another—into the West coast of North America, from Mexico to Canada. The storms produced the most violent flooding residents had ever seen, before or since.

…..The specific weather pattern that the Native Americans of the West recognized and knew would bring particularly severe flooding is once again understood today. The powerful storms originate in the warm and moist tropical Pacific Ocean. Recent research describes these storms more broadly as “atmospheric rivers,” and they often result in the worst floods in not only the American West, but across the globe.

Story continues The Coming Megafloods A great read. Wasn’t this before humans could cause climate change?

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