This article in today’s Bee reminds us of how powerful our snow-fed rivers are, particularly after the very wet winter (and spring) we have had, and the tragic consequences of getting in, or even near enough to slip in to them right now.
As the story notes:
“The normal flow on the American River below Folsom Dam is about 4,000 cubic feet per second. On Tuesday the flow reached 12,600 cubic feet per second, McCracken said. (A cubic foot is roughly the size of a basketball. In this measure, that many basketballs would flow past a point in one second.)
At Shasta Dam, the Sacramento River normally flows at 8,000 cubic feet per second. On Tuesday it was up to 10,000. And Oroville Dam, on the Feather River, normally trickles at 1,700 cubic feet per second but reached up to 17,000.”
That is fast, cold water, and as much as we treasure it, we need to remember to fear it when appropriate.
Here is an excerpt.
Big snowmelt turns rivers deadly
In a flash, swift, cold waters claimed Roseville teen
By M.S. Enkoji and Carrie Peyton Dahlberg -- Bee Staff Writers Published 2:15 am PDT Wednesday, May 3, 2006
In the time it took to bait a fishing line, Robbie Baker was gone.
Maybe he slipped, or maybe he dove in trying to save his best friend. Either way, the fun-loving Roseville teen was sucked below the surface of turbulent Rock Creek near Placerville on Monday, drowning while his father paused for just a moment to fasten a lure on his pole.
"It was only three or four minutes and it was all done, it was all over," said Rob Baker, who had scrambled for yards along the creek bank searching for his only child. All he found was a floating shoe.
A bumper season of Sierra snow piles are now melting into ice-cold rivers and rushing to the Valley floor, swift waters that even a healthy 17-year-old boy cannot survive.
Snow in the Sierra Nevada has accumulated up to 150 percent of what California needs for its water supply. Now that abundance is filling reservoirs, forcing water managers to open dam gates.
Waterways could be especially deadly beyond spring and well into summer. The open dam gates are sending as much as four times the normal amount of water downstream.
Not only is the water fast, it's bone-chilling.
"This is the coldest water you're going to get," said Jeff McCracken, a spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
The normal flow on the American River below Folsom Dam is about 4,000 cubic feet per second.
On Tuesday the flow reached 12,600 cubic feet per second, McCracken said. (A cubic foot is roughly the size of a basketball. In this measure, that many basketballs would flow past a point in one second.)
At Shasta Dam, the Sacramento River normally flows at 8,000 cubic feet per second. On Tuesday it was up to 10,000. And Oroville Dam, on the Feather River, normally trickles at 1,700 cubic feet per second but reached up to 17,000.
"What that means is there is going to be a lot of very high, very cold, very fast water that will continue into summer," McCracken said.
