SACRAMENTO, Calif. — For emergency planning purposes, scientists unveiled a hypothetical California scenario that describes a storm that could produce up to 10 feet of rain, cause extensive flooding (in many cases overwhelming the state’s flood-protection system) and result in more than $300 billion in damage. [Source: USGS Release, click for the rest of the release.]
Project Related
Devil’s Slide Breakthrough Video and Links
The “breakthrough” media event for CALTRANS’ Devil’s Slide Tunnel project was this past Friday. A large crowd of politicians, news crews and locals were on hand as a road-header broke through a shotcrete face in a ceremony to mark the completion of the excavation portion of the first of two tunnels. It will still be over a year until the tunnels are opened to traffic. The second tunnel is expected to breakthrough as early as this week. (Photo by SFGate.com)
Caltrans tunnel punch-through from Barry Parr on Vimeo.
The Video came from the Coastsider, the page also has comments from the videographer, Barry Parr, which offer a good perspective on the event.
Click on through for more links etc.
Regional
California Snow Pack Just 29% of Normal
The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the California State Department of Water Resources indicates the Sierra snow pack is at just 29% of normal leading state officials to start pushing water conservation measures. According to […]
Geologic Hazards
Landslides in China – Sichuan and Guangxi
In Sichuan Province, China, they were still in the recovery process from the devastating 2008 earthquake when a series of landslides, rockfall, mudslides and flooding has hit the region. Dave’s Landslide Blog has excellent coverage as usual on the slide pictured here, which blocked a major road, hindering rescue efforts. (Photo Xinhua/Jiang Hongjing)
A remarkable video of the aftermath of a bridge destroyed by one of these rockfall / landslide events is shown below. The destruction is pretty profound. (Via Geology.com)
Also on Dave’s blog, a landslide in Guangxi caused a train to derail, killing 4 people and injuring 50. My heart truly goes out to the people of those portions of China, particularly in Sichuan as they have been through so much.