Atmospheric rivers, which are intensified by climate change, account for more than 90% of flood damages in California. These storms present the biggest threat to our low-lying areas sitting below levees.

Liz Bryson is the Manager of Flood Operations at the California Department of Water Resources. Bryson and the DWR lead the state’s flood response. When activated, people pack a relatively small and unassuming room in Sacramento.

"One big part of what we do during high water is facilitated discussions between reservoir operators because those releases into the rivers could have major impacts downstream," said Bryson. "So, we want to make sure that all the appropriate agencies are in the conversation so they're not just making decisions in silos. Emergencies begin and end at the local level, so when a local agency runs out of resources, they move up to the county, and the county runs out of resources, they come up to the state level. The flood operation center coordinates and supports that response.”

The Flood Ops Center was activated in 2019 for four days. In comparison, the center was active for 151 days in 2017 -- the year of the Oroville Dam Crisis.

Read the full report: https://www.abc10.com/megaflood

Megaflood stories:
- Flood preps: How to prepare your home and your family for flooding:    • Flood preps: How to prepare your home...  
- Megaflood: What to know about evacuations in the Sacramento region:    • Megaflood: What to know about evacuat...  
- Megaflood: Catastrophic flooding in California now twice as likely:    • Megaflood: Catastrophic flooding in C...  
- Megaflood: How the region is preparing for potentially catastrophic flooding:    • Megaflood: How the region is preparin...  

__________

Watch full To The Point with Alex Bell shows: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...
Watch every To The Point story: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...
Follow Alex on Facebook:   / alexbelltv  
Find To The Point online: https://www.abc10.com/tothepoint
Find ABC10 online: https://www.abc10.com/
Sign up for our newsletter: https://www.abc10.com/email
Stream ABC10 on Roku: https://channelstore.roku.com/details...
Stream ABC10 on Amazon Fire: https://www.amazon.com/Gannett-Broadc...
Stream ABC10 on AppleTV: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/abc10...
Like ABC10 on Facebook:   / abc10tv  
Like ABC10 on Instagram:   / abc10tv  
Follow ABC10 on Twitter:   / abc10  
App download Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/de...
App download iPhone: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/abc10-n...

#ToThePoint #Megaflood #California