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Digital News Report – California could be faced with a super storm that could produce up to 10 feet of rain, and that is why scientists, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the California Emergency Management Agency (Cal EMA), and the United States Geological Survey met last week in Sacramento to discuss the possibility of massive flooding that could cause a potential of $300 billion in damages.
The ArkStorm Scenario was put together by the USGS. Data was assembled from prehistoric flood history in the state of California and then it was combined with today’s flood mapping and climate-change predictions. The ArkStorm is all hypothetical, but the USGS said that it could possibly happen. The ArkStorm predictions came together with the efforts of over 100 scientists and experts spending over two years to compile the report.
The USGS scientists that created ArkStorm scenario think that this mega-flooding event could happen every 100 to 200 years. They suggest that the damage potential is as serious as the large magnitude San Andreas earthquakes. They think that the mega-flooding could happen if two big storms come through one after the other creating this flooding event. They said that in January 1969 and in February 1986 storms produced enough rain that if combined could cause extreme flooding that is predicted in the ARkStorm.
If this major flooding event would occur the ARkStorm scenario suggests that one out of four home in California would succumb to some flood damage.
To read the ArkStorm Scenario you can visit http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2010/1312/ website where the USGS has posted the report online.
By Victoria Brown