Photo Credits: Marinas.com
Californians worry that the “Big One” might soon hit the state. Many people think the tragedy will cause a massive earthquake that would have destroyed most of California, causing human casualties and property damage. However, experts believe that the “Big One” may actually be a megaflood rather than an earthquake.
According to Science Advances, a scientific research organization, the likelihood of catastrophic floods has doubled over the next 40 years due to climate change. Experts said that floods that might ensue from climate change have never occurred before.
According to UCLA researcher and climate scientist Daniel Swain who is involved in the study, a megaflood is a highly severe flood occurrence across a broad territory that has the potential to bring catastrophic repercussions to society in the places affected. He compared the megaflood to the 1,000-year flash flood that crossed Kentucky and St. Louis but in a larger area that was equivalent to the size of the state of California.
The California megaflood may be cyclic in nature, meaning it has happened before. However, due to the rising consequences of global warming, the cycle of megafloods happening in the state of California might shrink to 25 to 50 years. The megaflood has the potential to turn most of the California state into a “vast inland sea.”
Flash floods have occurred often this summer in Death Valley National Park, Eastern Kentucky, and St. Louis. The increased frequency of flash floods can be ascribed to the torrential rainstorms that climate change ultimately causes.
Flash floods and other types of flooding are nothing new in California, where heavy rains can cause rivers to fill to capacity and overflow. However, climate change effects amplify the volume of rainfall, increasing the chance of a megaflood.
Read Also: Wildfires are Raging Across France, Country Calls on Volunteers
What areas could be severely damaged
According to research, the Central Valley of California, which includes Bakersfield, Fresno, and Sacramento, would sustain the most damage. The information is based on a study that monitors the movement of water vapor and potential accumulation of precipitation over the region in a 30-day span.
Because the Central Valley provides more than a quarter of the nation’s food supply, the US Geological Survey warned that if the region were to be completely inundated by the megaflood, food shortages might follow.
The megaflood will have an impact on the entire nation. Research found that the megaflood may inflict up to $1 trillion in damage and significantly harm the counties of Orange and Los Angeles. The tragedy would also surpass Hurricane Katrina as the most expensive disaster in US history by a factor of five.
The megaflood before, and the megaflood now
The Golden State had one of the most destructive floods in American history more than 150 years ago. A drought that followed it worsened the effects of the catastrophe.
A succession of downpours that swelled the rivers and caused them to overflow was the reason for the incident. As a result, homes were destroyed, cattle disappeared, and people perished. Swain asserts that a catastrophe of comparable size to the one that occurred in Sacramento might occur once more, only this time it might be considerably worse.
Read Also: California Declares a State of Emergency Following Surge of Monkeypox Cases
“Such a flood event in modern California would likely exceed the damages from a large magnitude earthquake by a considerable margin,” said a study. “We find that climate change has already increased the risk of a (1862) megaflood scenario in California, but that future climate warming will likely bring about even sharper risk increases,” it added.
“Ultimately, one of our goals is not just to understand these events scientifically, but it’s also to help California prepare for them. It’s a question of when rather than if (the megaflood) occurs,” said Swain.
“When this (flood) occurs again, the consequences would be wildly different than they were back in the 1860s,” he added.
Opinions expressed by US Insider contributors are their own.
