A study has found that there is a high possibility that the largest flood risk in 100 years is likely to occur in Los Angeles and Southern California because of climate change. Most Southern California residents think of a large earthquake as the most dangerous natural disaster to come, but it is pointed out that flood risk must also be prepared.
A recent study conducted by UC Irvine University predicted that flooding caused by a storm that occurs once every 100 years will cost the lives and property of people living in the low-lying coastal areas of Los Angeles.
Researchers at UC Irvine analyzed the data and found that about 874,000 people and up to $108 billion in homes and real estate from the southern Santa Monica Mountains to Long Beach would be directly affected by flooding.
The federal disaster agency designated the 17-mile stretch of lowland from Pico Rivera to Long Beach a few decades ago as a ‘special flood hazard area’ with a high risk of flooding during El Niño storms unless the aging waterway system is improved. did.
A study published earlier by UCLA also predicted that megaton-scale flooding is likely to ravage Southern California in the future. The flood was named ‘ArkStorm’, and like a great earthquake, the timing is unknown, so it is also called ‘the other Big One’. The report warned that the damage from the ark storm would be unimaginable compared to the relatively localized damage of the Big One.
The report points out that the impact of climate change will result in more rain than snow in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, causing a two to fourfold increase in runoff in most rivers in California. As a result, most of Southern California’s major highways will collapse or be destroyed, and low-lying coastal megacities including Los Angeles and San Diego will be flooded, the report added.
The last such deluge in California was in 1862. At the time, a 30-inch water bomb fell on Northern California for a month, flooding San Francisco and Sacramento.
Experts urged the city to establish a city red-gull management system in preparation for the coming huge flood, and to comprehensively manage storage facilities such as dams, rivers, and sewage pipes and drainage facilities in the city. He also explained that residents should be informed of the dangers of flooding and educated to use limited water resources efficiently.