California is finally enjoying an abundance of rain, making this the third wet winter in a row — but the rainfall comes too late to save Southern California from the fires that burned large parts of Pacific Palisades, Altadena, and Malibu.
The Golden State has been drenched over the past few weeks, with large amounts of rain and snow hitting Northern California — and the storms have finally made their way south as well.
The San Jose Mercury News reported:
“We’ve had two good years in a row prior to this, and we are heading into a third year,” said Jeff Mount, a professor emeritus at UC Davis and senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California’s Water Policy Center. “I can confidently say we are in really good shape. It’s unusual to get three wet years in a row.”
The wet winter conditions in Northern California come as welcome relief after the state suffered serious droughts in 11 of the past 17 years: 2007-09, 2012-16 and 2020-22.
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The rain has been so plentiful that operators of the largest reservoirs have been increasing water releases in recent days to make space for the latest storm.
The past two winters have brought so much rain that many creeks in the mountains above Los Angeles, which often run dry in the summer months, have been flowing with water year-round. Many were, however, scorched by the fires.
L.A. County issued evacuation warnings for some areas inside the burn zones from 7:00 a.m. on Thursday to 2:00 p.m. on Friday, when a winter storm is expected to be at its heaviest, bringing the risk of flooding and debris flows.
In addition, many beaches from Ventura County south to San Diego County have been closed, or have been placed under advisories, due to the potential of debris and toxic runoff, especially from beaches below the burn zones.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
