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ARkStorm: California’s other "Big One"

 

 

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There will be a press conference (details here) later today with scientific experts on the USGS’s  ARkSTorm Scenario for California – a catastrophic rain event like that last seen in 1862, that would likely cause far more damage than a major earthquake.

 

ARkSTorm stands for Atmospheric River 1,000, a worst case winter storm scenario that could be expected to produce precipitation and flooding that exceeds levels experienced usually only once every 500 to 1,000 years

 

A short USGS video, available on Youtube, provides an overview of the scenario.

 

 

While most Californians are aware of the earthquake potential for their state, prolonged and severe winter storms are really not high on their list of concerns.

 

The scientists involved in this study, however, say it should be. 

 

A devastating rain event, lasting perhaps a week or longer, and causing massive inland flooding is all but inevitable -  although when that might happen is unknown.

 

The full report, released yesterday, is available online.

 

 

Overview of the ARkStorm Scenario

By Keith Porter, Anne Wein, Charles Alpers, Allan Baez, Patrick Barnard, James Carter, Alessandra Corsi, James Costner, Dale Cox, Tapash Das, Michael Dettinger, James Done, Charles Eadie, Marcia Eymann, Justin Ferris, Prasad Gunturi, Mimi Hughes, Robert Jarrett, Laurie Johnson, Hanh Dam Le-Griffin, David Mitchell, Suzette Morman, Paul Neiman, Anna Olsen, Suzanne Perry, Geoffrey Plumlee, Martin Ralph, David Reynolds, Adam Rose, Kathleen Schaefer, Julie Serakos, William Siembieda, Jonathon Stock, David Strong, Ian Sue Wing, Alex Tang, Pete Thomas, Ken Topping, and Chris Wills; Lucile Jones, Chief Scientist, Dale Cox, Project Manager

First posted January 13, 2011

 

 

With the recent disastrous floods in Australia and landslides and flooding in Brazil, this report is both timely and important. 

 

Communities and emergency response operations need to be aware of and prepared for these sorts of events, but so do individuals and families.   

 

FEMA, Ready.gov, the American Red Cross, and other agencies all urge that everyone become better prepared to deal with emergencies. 

 

Because disasters, large and small, strike every day.

 

A prime focus of this blog has been on the individual’s responsibility to be prepared to deal with these sorts of emergencies.   

 

Not to lie awake at night worrying over some specific  100, 500, or 1,000 year event  . . .  but to be generally prepared to deal with a wide variety of potential hazards.

 

 

Because you don’t have to live on a fault line, or reside in tornado alley or hurricane country, to have bad things happen without warning.  

 

Severe storms, car wrecks, fires, floods, medical emergencies requiring first aid or CPR . . .   even epidemics: are all real threats every family should take steps to be better prepared to deal with.

 

With that in mind, a few of my recent preparedness blogs include:

 

NPM10: Everyone Should Have, And Be, A Disaster Buddy

NPM10 And Building A Culture Of Preparedness
An Appropriate Level Of Preparedness
The Gift Of Preparedness

 

For more potentially life saving preparedness information, go to:

 

FEMA http://www.fema.gov/index.shtm

READY.GOV http://www.ready.gov/

AMERICAN RED CROSS http://www.redcross.org/

Related Post:

Preparedness
ARKSTORM

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