In decades since, communities and farms growing vegetables, cotton and grazing cattle began to occupy the dry lakebed – one such community is Corcoran in Kings County.
Known as the farming capital of California, Corcoran now faces having its farms, residents and even a local prison being flooded by rising waters in the low-lying land.
It comes as a massive snowpack that piled up on the Sierra Nevada over the winter threatens more flooding potentially tripling floods by summer and threatening communities and could cost billions in losses.
And CA hasn’t built a new dam/reservoir in over 40 years.
Is Corcoran where there is a large prison?
The last time there was really serious flooding in California, was in 1862. A lot more people there now.
That whole general California area has dikes along the roads for when Tulare Lake reappears. My Father’s family migrated to the area (Corcoran) from Texas during the Dust bowl. I was very familiar with the area in my youth. All family has moved out passed on at this point.
Question: how did people buy land that was once a lake, and who did they buy it from?
Which is why you never purchase property and build on a flood plain.
Whenever we house hunted, that was one of the FIRST things we looked at.
Have always been into maps, had an old 1920s map that clearly showed Tulure Lake but indicated it was temporary, did it dry up every summer?
For a state that continually invokes the climate change bogeyman, they don’t really seem to understand the “science”
Loss of wetland is a tragedy.
Gain if wetland is a tragedy.
Looks like the Global Warming draught is over. Can we get back to normal now?
My kin in CA would never drink tap water. It’s that nasty. I bet they’d appreciate a reservoir of fresh water.
Thirsty Cauliphonyans are in fear of a freshwater “inland sea” forming in their state. Life is hell.
Yet the local media in California tell us we are still in a severe drought and under water restriction.
The water will drain to the sea and not be recaptured.
It’s a catastrophe when they dry up, and when they come back.
What this probably means to us south of the lake is the very dense fog we used to get during the winters.
In highschool, back in the mid to late 70s, driving home from sports practice was a deadly right of passage. Couldn’t see more than halfway down the hood of your car. And most of the winter was less than a mile visual range during every day.
Suicide rates would go up a lot in the winter back then.
Originally it was “Tule lake” that was the cause. the fog even carried the name “Tule Fog”.
You Tube vid with more background and history:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxCbjEoJxj0&t=845s
The sabotage of some levees and such (see vid) is an additional problem...
Most of the rain and run-off is just flowing into the ocean. Not only has California refused to build new reservoirs to collect rain water, they have taken down a number of dams over the past decade or so thus reducing the amount of water available for both homes and businesses. They then blame the lack of water sources on climate change. The snow-pack hasn’t even started melting yet so it’s going to get worse over the next month or so.