How California’s deadly storm is not enough to reverse the historic drought

It is one of the driest states in the United States. Now a series of storms in recent weeks has brought heavy rainfall to California, leading to unprecedented flooding, which has claimed 17 lives so far. Thunderstorms have soaked parts of the state and more rain is expected in the coming days. More than 20 million people have been alerted amid fears of mudslides spreading to Los Angeles and San Diego. At least 34,000 people remain under evacuation orders . Torrential rain is leaving a state that desperately needs water drenched. But will this help its long struggle with drought? We take a look. How much has it rained in California? The state has witnessed one of the wettest two-week periods on record and the storms are expected to continue. The National Weather Service (NWS) has described it as “the most impressive storm since January 2005”. California has experienced six atmospheric rivers in recent weeks and is bracing for as many as three more, with the wild weather set to continue for at least another week, Governor Gavin Newsom said Tuesday from Santa Cruz County. [caption id=“attachment_11968762” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Floodwaters course through a neighbourhood in Merced, California., on Tuesday. Following days of rain, dozens of homes and vehicles were surrounded by floodwaters. AP[/caption] The storms have poured a tremendous amount of water on the state, especially in central California, including the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento Valley. Precipitation is 138 per cent of the average for this time of year, officials said. The storms have also dumped snow on the Sierra Nevada that runs along California’s eastern border, according to a report by The Associated Press (AP). Around 90 per cent of Californians, some 34 million people are under flood watch in California, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. How bad has the drought been? California has been facing a historic drought , 2022 was the third year in a row. The 2020-21 water years combined were the two driest years in the statewide precipitation record, surpassing even the historic dry years of 1976-77. The US Drought Monitor classified more than 90 per cent of the state experiencing severe or worst drought over the past 12 months. For five months, at least an eighth of the state was experiencing “exceptional” drought, the most significant level of drought, reports The Washington Post. [caption id=“attachment_11968782” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] According to the US Seasonal Drought Outlook, a fourth consecutive year of drought is likely in California in spite of two recent storms which dropped precipitation across much of the state. Getty Images via AFP[/caption] The state imposed restrictions on water usage in some areas. Earlier last year, California water officials slashed State Water Project allocations from 15 per cent to 5 per cent of normal for water agencies serving roughly 27 million people and 750,000 acres of farmland. In late November, federal water managers warned the state to prepare for a fourth year of drought and possibly “extremely limited water supply” during 2023. Has the storm changed anything for California? While the torrential rain has brought devastation, it has also brought relief. Areas under severe to extreme drought have slightly shrunk, says the US Drought Monitor. The storm appears to have lifted seven per cent of the state out of exceptional drought conditions. Most of the state’s reservoirs remain below average for this time of year, but some have begun to fill, especially those close to the hard-hit Sacramento region and along parts of the Sierra Nevada. The reservoirs are essential for irrigating the Central Valley, a productive stretch of farmland that grows large amounts of fruits, nuts and grains. The reservoirs also supply water to millions of people living in coastal cities, reports AP. “What we’ve got so far puts us in good shape, probably for at least the next year,” said Alan Haynes, the hydrologist in charge of the California Nevada River Forecast Center. Will it reverse the drought? That seems unlikely. The state has received rain and snow and while there is some positive to it, it is unlikely to have a big impact on the drought. According to experts, California needs a lot more water to end the drought and make up for the little rainfall it has received over the years. “It’s going to take many methods and several wet years to make up for the region’s long period of low rainfall… One storm certainly doesn’t do it, and even one wet year doesn’t do it,” Andrew Fisher, a professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz, wrote in The Conversation. [caption id=“attachment_11968872” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] In this image taken with a drone, a vehicle is stuck in a sinkhole in the Chatsworth section of Los Angeles. Sinkholes swallowed cars and raging torrents swamped towns and swept away a small boy Tuesday as California was wracked by more wild winter while the next system in a powerful string of storms loomed on the horizon. AP[/caption] The atmospheric rivers aren’t striking everywhere. They move around “like a garden hose if you are spraying it across the yard,” David Gochis, an expert in how water affects the weather at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, told AP. “Those biggest reservoirs are just so massive it is probably going to take a while for them to fill,” he said. For some of the biggest, most crucial reservoirs, it may take five or six such drenchings, he said. The Colorado River, a major source of water for Southern California, has also been stricken by drought that has depleted major reservoirs on that river. The recent storms won’t fix that problem. It’s still early in the winter and it’s unclear what the next few months will bring. Last year, statewide snowpack around this time also looked promising. But a few warm, dry months followed, and when the snowpack was supposed to peak in early April, it was just 38 per cent of the historic average. Does climate change have a role to play? California’s water problem is long term and climate change is making it worse. The rain and snow will not help. Snowpack is its own type of reservoir, storing moisture that ideally melts slowly into reservoirs, supplying residents with water during the drier months of summer and fall. But now that snowpack often melts too quickly and reservoirs aren’t able to capture enough of it. “The California system was built for a climate we don’t have anymore,” Laura Feinstein, who leads work on climate resilience and environment at SPUR, a public policy nonprofit, told AP. Although there have been some wet years mixed in, California’s drought has been going on for roughly two decades. Climate change is creating drier, hotter conditions. Water evaporates faster. California officials predict there will be less water in the state’s future. “We are transitioning to a climate that is warming and more arid,” said Jeannie Jones, the interstate resources manager at the California Department of Water Resources. “So in that big picture, this series of storms really is kind of just a drop in the bucket,” Jones said. With inputs from agencies Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.