Floods
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Cloud Precipitation

3 dead, 19 missing following floods and landslides in North and Central Chile

Richard Davies
Floodlist
Mon, 27 Feb 2017 15:23 UTC
Flooding along the Maipo River in San Alfonso.
© Office of the Governor, Metropolitan RegionFlooding along the Maipo River in San Alfonso.
At least 3 people have died and 19 others are missing after heavy rains struck in central and northern Chile over the weekend. The heavy rains, unusual for this time of year in Chile, caused flooding and mudslides, blocking roads and leaving communities isolated.

The heavy rains also caused problems for the urban water systems in the Metropolitan region including the country's capital, Santiago. Increased turbidity in the Maipo River prompted water company Aguas Andinas to cut water supply from early 26 February, affecting around 1,440,000 people in 33 communes of the Metropolitan region. Businesses and schools have been closed as a result of lack of water supply.

Authorities declared a Red Alert for the Province of Santiago and the communes of San Bernardo and Puente Alto for the interruption of supply of drinking water, effective from 26 February 2017. With the Red Alert statement, all necessary and available resources will be mobilized to act and control the situation, given the extent and severity of the event.

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Cloud Precipitation

California drought continues to abate as flooding becomes the new crisis

Jeff Daniels
CNBC
Thu, 23 Feb 2017 10:56 UTC
California floods
© Getty ImagesA man boards a bus on a flooded street as a powerful storm moves across Southern California on February 17, 2017 near Sun Valley, California.
After years of extreme drought, Southern California is now completely free of the worst conditions following recent rains that brought flooding, according to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor.

Also, the state's Central Valley region where agriculture is dominant continued to show improvement from abnormally dry conditions.

"The precipitation that fell this week continued to reduce long-term drought in California," the monitor said Thursday. "Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties, which have been the epicenter of drought in California in recent weeks, received much-needed rainfall."

The monitor said more than 8 inches of rain was reported at two stations near Santa Barbara and almost 7 inches nearby at Ojai. Ventura County's community of Thousand Oaks also experienced well over 6 inches of rain.

"It's been raining a lot and gone a tremendous way towards eliminating surface drought conditions in California," said Richard Heim, a meteorologist with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 's National Centers for Environmental Information and the author of this week's monitor.

Added Heim, "We felt it was time that the extreme drought [category] went away." He said this week's monitor is the first time since Aug. 6, 2013, that California is free of "extreme" drought conditions.

Comment: The recent Oroville dam crisis is a wake up call for the aging California water system.

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Cloud Precipitation

Floods leave 1 dead and 2,000 displaced in Cundinamarca and Huila, Colombia

Richard Davies
Floodlist
Fri, 24 Feb 2017 18:32 UTC
Aftermath of the floods in Rivera, Huila, Colombia, February 2017.
© UNGRDAftermath of the floods in Rivera, Huila, Colombia, February 2017.
Recent heavy rain in central and western areas of Colombia has caused flooding in the 3 departments of Antioquia, Cundinamarca, and Huila.

At least one person was killed in floods in Gachetá in Cundinamarca. Around 2,000 people have been evacuated after flooding in Rivera, Huila, where over 100 homes have been destroyed. In Antioquia minor flooding affected the cities of Medellín and Itagüí and parts of the Aburrá Valley between 21 and 23 February.

Colombia's meteorological agency IDEAM (Instituto de Hidrología, Meteorología y Estudios Ambientales) says that the conditions are unusual and the heavy rain is falling during what would normally be considered the dry season.
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Boat

Thousands evacuated as San Jose, California hit by worst floods in a century

Veronica Rocha, Rong-Gong Lin II, Matt Stevens
Los Angeles Times
Wed, 22 Feb 2017 18:15 UTC
San Jose floods
© Noah Berger / AFP/Getty ImagesFloodwater surrounds homes in San Jose on Wednesday. Thousands of people were ordered to evacuate their homes as neighborhoods were inundated.
Over the last two weeks, heavy rains pushed water levels at Santa Clara County's largest reservoir into the danger zone, with officials warning it could overflow.

That happened over the weekend, sending massive amounts of water into the Coyote Creek, which runs through the heart of San Jose.

By Tuesday, the creek was overflowing at numerous locations, inundating neighborhoods, flooding hundreds of homes and forcing the frantic evacuations of more than 14,000 residents, who remained out of their homes Wednesday.

The worst flooding to hit Silicon Valley in a century left San Jose reeling and residents angry about why they were not given more warning that a disaster was imminent. Even city officials on Wednesday conceded they were caught off guard by the severity of the flooding and vowed a full investigation into what went wrong.

"If the first time a resident is aware that they need to get out of a home is when they see a firefighter in a boat, then clearly there has been a failure," said San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo. "There is no question that we'll need to do things differently next time."


Comment: Record rainfall is straining California's whole flood control network. Yesterday the gates at Shasta Dam were opened for the first time in 19 years to ensure they worked properly. The event has happened only twice in 34 years - in 1998 and 1983. Don Bader, area manager for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which operates the dam said, "If this next series of storms comes through, then we very may well need to use them."



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Cloud Precipitation

'Atmospheric river' over N. California threatens levees, Bay Area reservoir spills

Liam Dillon, Joseph Serna, Rong-Gong Lin II and Veronica Rocha
LA Times
Tue, 21 Feb 2017 20:15 UTC
anderson dam
© Len Ramirez / KPIX 5The lower spillway waterfall at Anderson Dam in Morgan Hill, Calif., on Monday, Feb. 20, 2017.
An "atmospheric river" continued to batter parts of Northern California on Tuesday, causing widespread flooding.

The heavy rains prompted the National Weather Service to warn of a dam failure outside Carson City, Nev., saying that it was "not a drill" and that residents should "move to higher ground now."

But less than 90 minutes after issuing the alert, the agency changed its report to say the retention basin in Dayton, Nev., had not failed. Instead, it was full and overflowing into drainage areas, the weather service said.

Comment: Part of Highway 50 in Sierra has closed due to a collapse in the road near Bridal Veil Falls in El Dorado County:


The Anderson Dam in Santa Clara county is spilling over for the first time in 11 years.
The man-made lake reached full capacity and began cascading over the spillway and into Coyote Creek on Saturday, the latest dramatic event to unfold amid a relentless rainy season.

Flooding along Coyote Creek is expected on Tuesday as the reservoir continues to spill over.

"The update for today is that we are seeing quite a large flow of water from the current storms," said Marty Grimes, a spokesperson for Santa Clara County Water District. "It hasn't peaked yet. It will certainly spill all day today and could continue all week, depending on how much rain comes from the next storm. We expect flooding on Coyote Creek later today in a few low spots."


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Cloud Precipitation

'Hectic' floods close roads in areas of South Africa

Jan Bornman
Times Live
Tue, 21 Feb 2017 14:37 UTC
fLOODS
© Rob Byrne
Major roads in the North West province have been temporarily closed due to flooding in the province.

"It's very hectic with the flooding," said Thabo Sematle, spokesperson for the North West department of community safety and transport management.

Sematle said Wolmaransstad had experienced severe flooding, causing the closure of the N12 running through the small North West town since midday on Tuesday.

He said other areas that experienced flooding was the N14 between Vryburg and Kuruman in the Northern Cape, as well as the roads leading into Ottosdal from Mahikeng and Delareyville.

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Boat

Record drought to record rain in 3 months: Many rivers in northern California at or above flood stage


The Watchers
Tue, 21 Feb 2017 22:08 UTC
flooding california
Mandatory evacuations have been ordered in parts of Northern California Monday, February 20, 2017, as another heavy rainmaker slammed the region.

Many rivers in Northern California are at or above flood stage after a series of powerful storms hit the state in recent months. There are reports of flooded streets and trees and debris crashing into roadways. More than a dozen reports of flooding and debris flows have come in Monday from as far south as Monterey and as far north as Santa Rosa, according to The Weather Channel.

Two people have lost their lives Monday morning on a rural road between Oakdale and Waterford after head-on crash due to wet road, bringing the total death toll in California to 9 in just a few days.

I-80 westbound is currently closed from the Nevada state line through Donner Pass due to multiple vehicle collisions.

Comment: What a phenomenal turn-around by Mother Nature: 3 months ago, California's reservoirs were bone dry - now they're bursting at the seams!

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Cloud Precipitation

Northern California braces for more flooding; Don Pedro spillway opens for first time in 20 years

Louis Sahagun and Esmeralda Bermudez
Los Angeles Times
Mon, 20 Feb 2017 21:05 UTC
California flooding
© Nic Coury/Monterey County Weekly via APA man walks through floodwaters Monday in Salinas. Forecasters issued flash flood warnings Monday throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and elsewhere in Northern California.
Water came gushing down the spillway at Don Pedro Dam in Stanislaus County Monday afternoon, further proof — if any were needed — that this is a rainy season for the record books in much of California.

It was only the second time the spillway had been used, and the first time in 20 years, as officials sought to keep the Don Pedro Reservoir from overflowing.

Residents along the Tuolumne River were not forced to evacuate, but "we are strongly encouraging people to seek shelter and move to higher ground," Stanislaus County Sheriff Adam Christianson said at a news conference. "Our No. 1 priority is the safety and security of the people here in Stanislaus County."

The Don Pedro release came as much of the state's northern half was being hit with a colossal drenching — one expected to drop as much as 9 inches of rain in areas from Santa Cruz County along the coast to the Feather River Basin, far inland. People living along waterways braced for flash floods and evacuations.

It came with memories still fresh of the crisis that developed just over a week ago at Oroville Dam, some 180 miles to the north. Both spillways were damaged, and fears of catastrophic flooding prompted the evacuation of more than 100,000 people.
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Cloud Precipitation

Widespread flooding hits Indonesia's capital Jakarta


The Hindu
Tue, 21 Feb 2017 04:54 UTC
Jakarta flooding
© Reuters A woman wades through floodwaters in a flood-hit area in Jatinegara district, Jakarta, Indonesia.
Torrential rains in the Indonesian capital have overwhelmed drains and flooded roads and thousands of homes.

The disaster mitigation agency says more than 50 areas are flooded in Jakarta with waters up to 1.5 metres (4.9 feet) high in East Jakarta.

It said the city's drains couldn't accommodate the runoff and rivers also overflowed.

Floods in 2013 forced killed more than two dozen people in Jakarta and forced tens of thousands to flee their homes.

The city, which has about 30 million people in its greater metropolitan area, says it has reduced the number of flood prone areas since then by dredging rivers and other measures.
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Cloud Precipitation

National Guard re-evacuation of Oroville Dam, general denies but eight inches of rain falling

Adapt 2030
You Tube
Mon, 20 Feb 2017 21:47 UTC
Oroville Dam
Oroville Dam
Some National Guard on station near Oroville Dam were asked by citizen journalists what they were doing in the area and the response was that "they were there to help with the re-evacuation", this was quickly corrected by a major general within an hour. Winter storm warnings for all northern California with forecast of 8 inches as Southern California slammed with Cat 2 hurricane force winds.


Sources
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