The residents of California are facing a major climate disaster on the horizon, but it is not an earthquake or a drought as many might expect.
Floodwaters inundating a park near the San Joaquin River in Manteca, California in 1997. (Photo: California State Water Resources Control Board).
New research from Science Advances indicates that climate change has doubled the risk of catastrophic flooding occurring in California over the next four decades. Experts say that these floods will not resemble any that have previously swept through the region, according to CNN.
Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California and a co-author of the study, describes the potential megaflood as capable of “sweeping across a vast area, causing devastating impacts.”
He stated that a major flood similar to the 1,000-year floods that occurred in the St. Louis and Kentucky areas this summer could sweep through a much larger region, such as the entire state of California.
Experts believe that these massive floods will transform California’s low-lying areas into a “vast inland sea.” Previously, the risk of such events was very limited. However, climate change is increasing the likelihood of these disasters occurring every 25 to 50 years.
The most severely impacted area will be California’s Central Valley, which includes Sacramento, Fresno, and Bakersfield, according to the study’s authors.
The flood sweeping through the valley could cause damages of up to $1 trillion and devastate the low-lying regions of the state, including Los Angeles and Orange.
This figure is five times the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina, the most costly disaster in U.S. history.
