Global Courant 2023-05-12 17:00:35
Central Valley Californians threatened by this year’s massive snowmelt in the Sierra will receive much-needed state funding as they race to raise the Corcoran levee, a critical piece of flood management infrastructure that protects the city of Corcoran and its sprawling prison complex from the rising waters of Tulare Lake.
Local and county officials have been pleading with the state for weeks to help fund the project — a significant engineering feat that would require raising the 14.5-mile embankment about four feet to keep flooding at bay. The levee is key to protecting critical infrastructure in the area, including medical facilities, power plants and dual prisons holding about 8,000 inmates.
Governor Gavin Newsom announced the funding on Thursday and said the state will fund the $17 million needed to raise the levee from 188 above sea level to 192 feet, the historic level needed to protect the community from flooding.
The governor also announced an additional $290 million for flood response and preparedness projects.
“California is facing unprecedented weather — we just experienced its driest three years on record and now we are experiencing historic flooding,” Newsom said in a statement. “Our investments must match this reality of climate-driven extremes.”
(Paul Duginsky / Los Angeles Times)
The announcement followed calls from Corcoran and Kings County officials for help raising the aging levee. City mayor Greg Gatzka told The Times last month he was “beyond frustrated” by the difficulty of accessing emergency funding for the repairs.
“This is a huge relief,” Gatzka said Thursday. “Knowing that we can fully fund this Corcoran levee reinforcement so that we can protect the entire community and two state prisons not only from the existing floods that are already there — that’s about 360,000 acre-feet of water — but also from the approaching water that we know it’s coming from this huge melting snow.”
The money will come from the California Disaster Assistance Act and is contingent on the county completing an update to the mitigation plan, which may allow some costs to be recouped through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Newsom’s office said.
Also announced Thursday was a review of the state’s proposed budget, which will include an additional $290 million for flood response and preparedness projects in the state. The $290 million would come on top of the $202 million in flood investments proposed in January. The May budget review is expected to be released Friday.
Investments include $125 million for response and recovery from this year’s damaging storms, which will be reallocated from funds originally planned for drought relief projects, state finance officials said.
Other items include $75 million for local flood control efforts, including a flood risk management project on the Pajaro River, which experienced levee breaches and flooding during the storms. The proposed budget also includes $40 million for San Joaquin floodplain restoration; $25 million to expand current direct assistance programs for agriculture-related businesses affected by recent storms; and $25 million for potential additional disaster relief and response costs to address immediate impacts.
Perhaps nowhere is the work more urgent than in Corcoran, where this year’s wet winter filled dry Lake Tulare for the first time in 25 years. Residents there have watched the snow-capped Sierras with fear in recent weeks, with many fearing the levee is too low to hold back the millions of gallons of runoff expected to flow into the basin when it melts.
Indeed, nearly all of the record-deep snow in the mountains has yet to melt, with snow in the southern Sierra at 436% of normal for the date as of Thursday, according to state data. The snow water equivalent, or the amount of water in the snowpack, is 49.9 inches.
Gatzka said the Cross Creek Flood Control District, which is responsible for the levee, has completed about 60% of the repair work, and state funds will help get the project the rest of the way.
“We’re pretty sure they’re going to finish that before we get too much significant snowmelt coming and adding to the Tulare Lake basin,” he said.
However, raising the levee may only be a Band-Aid for a larger problem, as Corcoran and much of the Central Valley continues to undergo a process of sinking — known as subsidence — due to overpumping of groundwater resources. The levee has been repaired twice by the US Army Corps of Engineers, in 1969 and 1983.
“Raising the Corcoran levee provides greater assurance that we will not have to evacuate critical facilities and will ensure public safety,” Newsom said. “However, the state and federal government cannot continue to intervene to raise this levee. I look forward to a discussion about what the local office will do differently so that we do not end up in this situation again.”
Indeed, much of the greater Tulare Lake area is sinking at a rate of more than one-tenth of a foot per year, said Tim Godwin of the Department of Water Resources’ Sustainable Groundwater Management Office. Since 2013, Corcoran has experienced more than 5 feet of subsidence, while areas just outside of town have seen more than 6 feet, he said.
The state passed the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act in 2014 that requires local basins to develop groundwater sustainability plans, but many of the proposals in the Tulare Lake area have not yet been approved, Godwin said. He and other officials said they will be reaching out to local officials and stakeholders – including the area’s largest landowner, the JG Boswell Co. – to ensure that effective groundwater plans are drawn up.
“We are hopeful and optimistic that we are taking an emergency measure today that will protect a community and its local residents, but we also look forward to the future so that we will not be back here during another flood in years to come. said Brian Ferguson, deputy director of crisis communications for the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.
Officials could not give a firm timeline for completion of the levee repair, but noted that work is already underway. With warmer weather on the way, there is little time to lose.
“The work is happening now,” Ferguson said. “I don’t have an end date, but we know we need to act as soon as possible.”
Times staff writer Jessica Garrison contributed to this report.
