JUNE 2010
SPA Principal Keith Porter presented the ARkStorm to 200 California flood control and water resource managers, as part of this annual symposium at the University of California at Davis. The ARkStorm is a winter-storm planning scenario that hypothesizes a repeat of the severe winter storm that struck California in the winter of 1861-1862, left the Central Valley impassible, destroyed 1/3 of taxable land in the state, and produced widespread flooding in Los Angeles, Orange, and Bay Area counties. Such an event could conceivably result in $750 billion of property loss and business interruption, necessitate the evacuation of 1.5 million Californians, and cause long-term harm to the California economy. A USGS Open-File Report on the ARkStorm is scheduled for publication in January 2011.