ARkStorm Scenario Paints Grim Picture of California
Most Californians are worried about the Big One, referring to a massive and devastating earthquake. But now residents of the Golden State have a new natural disaster they can start sweating.
Scientists with the U.S. Geological survey held a 2-day seminar in Sacramento last week urging local communities to start preparing for the next “arkstorm”, a Pacific coast phenomenon that last hit the central valley area of California in 1861.
USGS director Marcia McNutt says this weather disturbance occurs when “an atmospheric river comes in from the Pacific ocean, and dumps days of rain on California.” The amount of rainfall can be measured in feet not inches and could dwarf the torrential downpours associated with tropical hurricanes.
The preparation for an Arkstorm is part of a simulation exercise to determine the outcomes for different worst-case scenarios. There is no actual storm on its way to California anytime soon.
The computer simulation of such a weather event indicates that damage would measure in the trillions of dollars and that widespread destruction would harm food production and threaten lives.
Director McNutts says of the potential storm, “It takes out one-fourth of the homes in California, one-third of the agricultural land and one-third of the taxable land in California and renders it inoperable.”
Preparation for this kind of large-scale disaster requires a lot of time, which is why the USGS is having these discussions now and not when the 150-year storm actually sets its sights on California.
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