"Someone" ordered the Army Corps of Engineers to release flood-risking levels of California water from two lakes [View all]

[highplainsdem]

Last edited Fri Jan 31, 2025, 06:59 PM - Edit history (1)

starting yesterday, with only an hour's warning to authorities and first responders downstream.

Saw posts from MeidasTouch and Ron Filipkowski about this:

https://sjvwater.org/decision-to-dump-water-from-tulare-county-lakes-altered-after-sending-locals-in-mad-scramble/

This is probably what Trump meant in his idiotic Truth Social post about sending the military into California to turn on the water.

The local authorities were able to talk the Corps of Engineers out of releasing so much all at once.

“We’re still trying to wrap our minds around the numbers that made this happen,” Fukuda said. “We haven’t received much information from the Army Corps, just very vague answers.”

Rick Brown, chief public affairs officer for the Sacramento office of the Army Corps, would only say that levels in both lakes were “currently in the flood control space.”

He directed further questions to the Army Corps’ headquarters, which did not return an email Thursday asking: Who made the decision to release the water? Why? Why so suddenly? And why weren’t safety personnel notified?

Some people interviewed for this story speculated that the move was political on the part of the new administration, a kind of water “flex,” but declined to elaborate.

***** EDITING after an LA Times story with the official explanation *****

According to the Army Corps of Engineers, this was done following Trump's orders to "to ensure California has water available to respond to the wildfires."

Some people replying below have suggested it was done to lower the water level before an atmospheric river hits. While that might be a standard reason - and should have come with a clear explanation and more advance notice - that is NOT the official reason given.

LBN thread: https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143385580