Gavin Newsom visits Corcoran to address ongoing Tulare Lake flood concerns. Watch it here
THE LATEST: Governor speaks of ‘surreal’ scenes
Gov. Gavin Newsom and other state officials were in the Kings County community of Corcoran on Tuesday afternoon to get a firsthand look at the threat posed to the city by ongoing flooding issues in the Tulare Lake basin.
Newsom toured some of the flooded areas in parts of Kings and Tulare counties near Corcoran, then provided an update on the state’s short- and long-term response to the flood which has inundated thousands of acres of farmland on the historic lake bed.
See his post-tour address here:
Flooding in the formerly dry lake bed arose after heavy winter storms dumped abundant rain both on the floor of the San Joaquin Valley and a record snowpack in the southern Sierra Nevada range on the east side of the Valley. A series of atmospheric river storms produced so much rain in the Kings, Kaweah and Tule river watersheds that dam operators at Pine Flat Reservoir, Lake Kaweah and Lake Success had to release more water than downstream users could handle, forcing the diversion of flows into the old lake bed. That has resulted in at least a partial – if temporary – restoration of the lake.
Newsom signed an executive order on March 31 to support the emergency flood response in the Tulare Lake basin, not only because of the storms but in anticipation of the spring snowmelt in the Sierra. That order sought to speed flood-reaction activities including diversion of floodwater, removal of debris and making repairs to levees in the basin.
The flooding threat continues as the massive Sierra snowpack begins melting, sending even more water downhill into foothill lakes behind dams that are expected to have to keep releasing water.
Check fresnobee.com later for Tim Sheehan’s recap of the Newsom visit.
This story was originally published April 25, 2023 at 10:29 AM with the headline "Gavin Newsom visits Corcoran to address ongoing Tulare Lake flood concerns. Watch it here."
