NFPA Journal - Spring 2023 - 13
SAMUEL BOIVIN / NURPHOTO VIA GETTY IMAGES
INTERNATIONAL
CALIFORNIA
SOAKIN'
WINTER STORMS PRODUCE
DAMAGE AND DEATHS ACROSS
MUCH OF THE GOLDEN STATE
F
irst responders and emergency management
professionals were on high alert throughout
much of California in the opening days of 2023
as a series of punishing winter storms barreled
ashore, dumping large amounts of rain near
the coast that resulted in widespread flooding and mudslides
and generating damaging winds and even tornados. Further
inland, especially in the mountains, the storms produced
prodigious amounts of snow-Mammoth Mountain, in the
Eastern Sierra, recorded 190 inches of snow between December
26, 2022, and January 11, 2023.
Meteorologists attributed the heavy weather to " atmospheric
rivers, " plumes of concentrated moisture that can
release precipitation rapidly and in enormous quantities.
San Francisco recorded nearly 13.6 inches of rain during the
period, and Santa Barbara saw more than a foot. Widespread
flooding throughout the region closed roads and airports,
washed out bridges and levees, and immobilized entire communities,
including the Sonoma County town of Sebastopol,
pictured here. Evacuation orders were issued across the state
as hundreds of thousands of residents tried to make do following
power outages. Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state
of emergency on January 4, and President Joe Biden declared
a state of emergency in 17 California counties on January 9. At
least 22 deaths were attributed to the storms, with preliminary
estimates of damage and economic losses topping $30 billion.
As fearsome as the recent storms were, however, other recent
years have been worse for the Golden State. At the same point
in 2017, the state's second-wettest on record, more rain had
already fallen; enough would continue to fall that the Oroville
Dam, in the northern part of the state, narrowly avoided a catastrophic
collapse. Even if 2023 continues to produce rain and
damp, experts caution that a single rainy season isn't nearly
enough to end the region's ongoing drought, a product of the
driest period the West has seen in the past 1,200 years.
Those same experts predict that California's drought
conditions will continue in coming years, punctuated by
periods of intense wet-a feast-or-famine cycle that seems
to increasingly characterize both the natural and manmade
environments of the nation's most populous state.
-SCOTT SUTHERLAND
NFPA .ORG/JOURNAL * NFPA JOURNAL | 13
https://www.nfpa.org/journal
NFPA Journal - Spring 2023
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - Spring 2023
Contents
NFPA Journal - Spring 2023 - Cover1
NFPA Journal - Spring 2023 - Cover2
NFPA Journal - Spring 2023 - 1
NFPA Journal - Spring 2023 - Contents
NFPA Journal - Spring 2023 - 3
NFPA Journal - Spring 2023 - 4
NFPA Journal - Spring 2023 - 5
NFPA Journal - Spring 2023 - 6
NFPA Journal - Spring 2023 - 7
NFPA Journal - Spring 2023 - 8
NFPA Journal - Spring 2023 - 9
NFPA Journal - Spring 2023 - 10
NFPA Journal - Spring 2023 - 11
NFPA Journal - Spring 2023 - 12
NFPA Journal - Spring 2023 - 13
NFPA Journal - Spring 2023 - 14
NFPA Journal - Spring 2023 - 15
NFPA Journal - Spring 2023 - 16
NFPA Journal - Spring 2023 - 17
NFPA Journal - Spring 2023 - 18
NFPA Journal - Spring 2023 - 19
NFPA Journal - Spring 2023 - 20
NFPA Journal - Spring 2023 - 21
NFPA Journal - Spring 2023 - 22
NFPA Journal - Spring 2023 - 23
NFPA Journal - Spring 2023 - 24
NFPA Journal - Spring 2023 - 25
NFPA Journal - Spring 2023 - 26
NFPA Journal - Spring 2023 - 27
NFPA Journal - Spring 2023 - 28
NFPA Journal - Spring 2023 - 29
NFPA Journal - Spring 2023 - 30
NFPA Journal - Spring 2023 - 31
NFPA Journal - Spring 2023 - 32
NFPA Journal - Spring 2023 - 33
NFPA Journal - Spring 2023 - 34
NFPA Journal - Spring 2023 - 35
NFPA Journal - Spring 2023 - 36
NFPA Journal - Spring 2023 - 37
NFPA Journal - Spring 2023 - 38
NFPA Journal - Spring 2023 - 39
NFPA Journal - Spring 2023 - 40
NFPA Journal - Spring 2023 - 41
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NFPA Journal - Spring 2023 - 49
NFPA Journal - Spring 2023 - 50
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NFPA Journal - Spring 2023 - 62
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NFPA Journal - Spring 2023 - 67
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NFPA Journal - Spring 2023 - 70
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NFPA Journal - Spring 2023 - 80
NFPA Journal - Spring 2023 - Cover3
NFPA Journal - Spring 2023 - Cover4
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