From the New York Times – “As California battles a second week
of lashing rain and snow that have flooded communities, broken
levees and toppled
power lines, the state is facing questions aboutwhether its approach to handling crippling storms is suited to 21st-century climate threats.

For decades, federal and state planners built dams and levees in California to store water and keep it at bay. But as climate change increases the risk of stronger and more destructive storms — like the one that was battering Northern California on Wednesday — experts and some policymakers are urging another approach: giving rivers room to overflow.” (more)