The flood control funds, though doing little to actually control water from becoming a flood in the first place, which only the Auburn Dam will do for Sacramento, will help, and the recent storm in Washington is but a reminder.
Stuart Leavenworth: Big election for flood control, all over the map
By Stuart Leavenworth - Bee Staff WriterPublished 12:00 am PST Monday, November 13, 2006
A day before Californians went to the polls last Tuesday and decided the fate of a $4.1 billion bond for flood control, the Pacific Ocean provided another timely reminder of why this spending was on the ballot in the first place.
A Pineapple Express storm, fed by moisture from the tropics, slammed into Washington state, dropping eight inches of rain in a few hours and flooding hundreds of homes. Had the jet stream dipped south that day, that same storm would have drenched California, possibly causing even greater destruction than Washington experienced on Election Day.
Tuesday was a historic test for flood control on several fronts. The $4.1 billion bond represented California's largest investment in levee upgrades in decades, and it received 64 percent of the vote, more than any other bond measure on the ballot. To top it off, voters approved Proposition 84, a parks and water bond that includes another $800 million for flood control.
Clearly, the Katrina effect -- the televised images of death and devastation in New Orleans -- continues to resonate in California, even in places that usually sit high and dry. Despite the lack of a big media campaign behind it, Proposition 1E (the unfortunate name for the flood control bond) received 77 percent of the vote in San Francisco and 66 percent in Los Angeles County. In low-lying Sacramento County, the big surprise wasn't that 72 percent of voters endorsed the flood control bond; it was that 28 percent voted against it.
