El Niño Winter: Is California Hosed?

California is in deep with their drought. Fortunately, El Niño is on the way with a wet winter! Unfortunately, that’s going to cause more flooding than any real drought relief. That’s what happens when the ground is insanely parched. Rain water won’t seep in. Instead, it puddles up over the ground like it’s concrete. This, as you might imagine, can cause some pretty bad flooding. [caption id="attachment_19445" align="alignright" width="300"] via Mirror[/caption] Think about it. California is like a really, really thirsty person who would like nothing more than to stick his head underneath the faucet for a drink (he’d use a cup, but he’s fresh out). Instead of getting a drip or even a constant flow, he gets blasted by a firehouse, unleashing all its water at him at once. That makes it rather difficult to drink when it’s coming at you that fast. The same goes with drought stricken ground. Light rain would be great. A torrent of water, however, is just going to wash everything away. San Diego may not be known for its mega-storms, but, according to a report by San Diego 6, El Niño has wreaked havoc in the past, creating winds of 60 miles per hour. That’s some serious tree toppling weather! Add rain to that mix and you’ve got yourself a flash flood problem. [caption id="attachment_19444" align="alignright" width="300"] This map shows the stormy winter predicted to hit California - via AccuWeather[/caption] AccuWeather expects Californians will have to deal with flooding and even landslides. Areas especially under threat are those over recent burn scar areas where forest fires raged earlier this and previous years. So, if you don’t have flood insurance yet, I highly recommend getting some before El Niño sets in. Remember, flood insurance takes 30 days to become active from the day you purchase, so make sure you get some now, before the floods come. But with all this rain, you must be thinking it can’t all be bad, right? Well, you’d be correct in that assumption. Where there’s rain near sea level, there is snow up in the mountains, and California desperately needs more snow. The snow pack in California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains is at its lowest in 500 years. This snow pack is ideally supposed to help provide fresh water for California. But, with the snow up there constantly melting, that backup water supply is virtually non-existent. So while El Niño may bring redundant flooding down below, it will also bring that all-important white stuff to the mountains. California needs more snow, so this, at least, is a good thing. Ready or not, however, the rains will be coming to California, and floods are going to make things messy. The time to prepare – as always – is now. Don’t risk going into this El Niño season without flood insurance. The people in Noah’s time were warned about a great flood, but they didn’t prepare themselves, and, well, the rest is history. Other ways to prepare include having a storage of emergency food and water. If your home does flood, your food could get ruined, but by having well-sealed containers and stores of food on high shelves, you’ll be just fine. Clean drinking water may also be a problem during floods. Flood water can contaminate local drinking water, rendering it useless. Unless you do some serious filtering and purifying, you really shouldn’t drink the water. So make sure you have water jugs and barrels filled with clean drinking water, filters and purifiers, or all of the above. And, since California is situated along the coast, having a desalinator might not be a bad idea, either, if that’s within your budget. Desalinators convert salty ocean water to potable drinking water. With the vast, briny ocean right at your doorstep, it’s definitely something to think about. How are you preparing for the El Niño winter?