SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – Water experts are warning the Bay Area that large-scale flooding could be a reality later this month, following an incoming warm storm from Hawaii.
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"There will be some rain in the lower elevations, but probably a lot more snow at the upper elevations, but the wet season isn’t over yet," said Dr. Peter Gleick, co-founder and senior fellow at the Pacific Institute.
If warm storms — known as the "pineapple express" that flow from Hawaii to California — cause all the snowmelt to happen at once, Gleick told KCBS Radio it could be dangerous for those who live near rivers and below dams.
Reservoir managers have been releasing water ahead of the storm system, which should help curtail flooding, but this action is counterintuitive when considering California's drought.
"The big floods that we get, the big flows from the mountains don’t spread out and recharge groundwater. We tend to push them out into the rivers and out into the delta and ultimately into the ocean. We need to figure out a way to spread those floods out a little more because it takes time to recharge groundwater," he explained.
Gleick warned that California is still trending towards water misuse and drought. "Demand for groundwater simply at the moment exceeds the reliable supply, so the long term trend is still in the wrong direction," he said. "That's going to require really rethinking the way we use water in the Central Valley."
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