While the cleanup effort gets underway in the southeast region of the United States after Hurricane Helene, West Coast disaster preparedness experts say something similar could happen here. It’s highly unlikely that California could see a Category 4 storm like Helene park itself well inland and dump water at record breaking rates. But we’re still vulnerable to flooding, especially during a Pineapple Express. Letitia Grenier directs the Water Policy Center at the Public Policy Institute of California and says climate change takes it up a notch. “Now with the heating in the atmosphere, we are getting these really intense stormburst in certain places, in particular storms,” Grenier stated. “And that may be more like a hurricane in terms of those moments.”

Other flood article:

• The Guardian: Hurricane Helene’s ‘historic flooding’ made worse by global heating, Fema says