Pa. emergency workers deployed to California disaster for flood and landslide assistance

[FakeNoose]

(link) https://www.post-gazette.com/news/state/2023/01/23/california-disaster-flooding-storm-pennsylvania-emergency-management/stories/202301220167

By Saturday, the estimated price tag for cleaning up California’s flooded landscape had topped $100 million. Emergency management agencies weren’t ready for a “megaflood,” a once-in-a-century string of storms that have dumped some 32 trillion gallons of water on California’s parched land.

While Pennsylvania hasn’t experienced the same type of disaster, it does have experts with experience in dealing with flooding. The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency last week sent personnel to Sacramento to help that region respond to the current disaster and plan for the next one.

“The impact of historic and deadly flooding seen recently in California has been as shocking as it has been heartbreaking,” said Randy Padfield, director of the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency.

“We have a lot of staff that are very experienced in dealing with floods,” Mr. Padfield said. “Pennsylvania is one of the most flood-prone states in the nation, and as a result, our staff have the experience to provide this much-needed support to our counterparts and communities in California.”

Loaning emergency personnel from far-away states to figure out what happened and how to be ready for the next monster flood is part of an ongoing exchange of expertise across the country.

The Emergency Management Assistance Compact is a formal agreement that allows all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands to share resources, such as personnel or equipment, during disasters.

- more at link -

Sometimes we all need a helping hand.

[bucolic_frolic]

1. "ongoing exchange of expertise"

Profoundly good.

[FakeNoose]

2. Indeed - blue states are willing to help out, red states not so much

I've lived in Pennsylvania for a large portion of my life, and I can vouch for the landslides. We get a lot of them here, but maybe our flooding doesn't make the news like it does in California. Our danger time seems to be late spring and early summer, that's when we get pounded by frequent rainstorms. The rockslides are the biggest danger then.

[Sympthsical]

3. "Once-in-a-century" needs to stop

This phrase is officially overused.

This wasn't a once-in-a-century event. We have really wet winters here sometimes with series of atmospheric rivers. I remember the second winter after I moved here about 13 years ago, It just rained and rained and rained. All winter long. It was totally ridiculous. I remember, because I hadn't bought a car yet and was reliant on a bike and public transportation. "You don't need a car here!" (my friends were deeply, deeply wrong). I was coming home every night in full rain gear totally soaked through for months. It was miserable.

Then a few dry winters.

Then another winter of "Oh my god, why hasn't it stopped raining for like twenty years?!" Guerneville was basically underwater as the Russian River tried to destroy all life. The Oroville Dam had a time of things.

Then some dry winters.

We're generally drought, but sometimes winter gets going. This year was one of those years. It's like the media have the memory of fruit flies.

Here's a chart:

https://www.laalmanac.com/weather/we13.php

[FakeNoose]

4. Doesn't it seem like the weather reporters have the shortest memories?

Even though the same thing happened 5 or 10 years ago, they're always caught by surprise.

[Sympthsical]

5. People read drought and figure, "Hey, it must never rain there"

I have had some very squelchy shoes during several winters over the past decade or so that would argue with this.