What is the California Superstorm and What Can We Expect?

The California Superstorm, producing over 40 continuous days of hurricane-force wind and torrential rain is, literally, a disaster of Biblical proportions. While it sounds like something from a corny disaster movie, the threat is very real, indeed. According to over 100 respected scientists and experts, the Superstorm is coming to California and there's not much anyone can do about it.

A California Superstorm could produce up to 10 feet of rain, flooding over one-fourth of California households. The disaster would cause well over $300 billion in damage from water, wind and resulting landslides.

A two year study conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) concluded that the timing and climate conditions were right for the disastrous phenomenon, which has occurred several times in California's past, to once again strike the state.

"We think this event happens once every 100 or 200 years or so, which puts it in the same category as our big San Andreas earthquakes," said Lucy Jones, head scientist of the USGS Multi-Hazards Demonstration Project.

Advanced flood mapping and atmospheric projections along with data on the state's flood history were used in making the call that a California Superstorm is more probability than possibility for California's near future.

The last such storm took place about 150 years ago, during a 45-day stretch in the winter of 1861-1862, when a 300-mile piece of the Central Valley was flooded and the state was in such bad shape that the capital had to be temporarily moved from Sacramento to San Francisco where Governor Leland Stanford reportedly had to attend his own inauguration via rowboat. The storm was so strong that small lakes even formed in the Mojave Desert.

However, the storm of 1861-1862 was a relatively mild reminder of what could happen.

Geologists note evidence that much larger storms took place in the years 212, 440, 603, 1029, 1418, and 1605, resulting in major climate and geological changes for the state.

The Superstorm brings up the issue of disaster preparedness in a state which has struggled with such issues in the past. Budget and organizational problems have given California a proverbial black eye at times when nature turns from friend to foe.

The USGS announced their findings and a related strategy to deal with the storm, named the "ARkStorm Scenario," during a two-day summit, January 13-14, in Sacramento in hopes that the advanced warning and information would help authorities better prepare for The California Superstorm and all of the issues surrounding the phenomenon.

"The time to begin taking action is now, before a devastating natural hazard event occurs," said USGS Director, Marcia McNutt. "The ARkStorm scenario demonstrates firsthand how science can be the foundation to help build safer communities. [It] is a scientifically vetted tool that emergency responders, elected officials and the general public can use to plan for a major catastrophic event to help prevent a hazard from becoming a disaster."

So, while Californians brace themselves for something powerful out on the horizon, they can only hold their breath and hope that the authorities are up to the task of saving lives and holding the losses to a minimum.

Source: USGS Press Release