"OROVILLE, Calif. — The costs to repair the nation's tallest dam after a nearly catastrophic failure of the spillways will top $500 million, nearly double the original estimate of $275 million, a California Department of Water Resources official said Thursday."
As this month's fatal California fires demonstrated, the risk of wildfire at the wildland-urban interface rises as development moves into fire-prone zones. The latest TipSheet explains this complex phenomenon, and provides story ideas and a wide range of resources to help you get ahead of the problem.
"As wildfires engulf nearly 170,000 acres of Northern California wine country, questions are swirling about the role of climate change in causing damage of historic proportions."
"Firefighters worked tirelessly to battle fast-spreading flames in Northern California's wine country as the return of dangerous winds threatened to worsen the blazes that have killed 23 people. At least 285 people remain missing as the wildfires wiped out communities and scorched 170,000 acres. About 3,500 structures have been destroyed."
"Firefighters battling wildfires in California’s wine country face the prospect of new outbreaks when dry, windy conditions return on Wednesday to an area where at least 17 people have been killed and 2,000 homes and businesses destroyed in blazes."
"Dry conditions and gusting winds fueled a deadly outbreak of wildfires in California that quickly exploded through thousands of acres of forest and residential neighborhoods, killing at least 11, injuring over 100 and destroying some 1,500 structures while scorching nearly 100,000 acres of land."
The threat of failing dams can prompt worries over lost lives and property, as witness hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria. But dam failure is a problem environmental journalists can get ahead of, and the latest TipSheet helps you get ready — with questions to ask, sources to pursue and resources to bone up on. Plus, more hurricane coverage resources.
"A sprawl of mobile home parks house 10,000 people in Southern California’s Coachella Valley, but their drinking water is chronically contaminated. Now some solutions are in sight."
"BIG SUR, Calif. — In a remote, rugged valley overlooking the Pacific Ocean, researchers closely monitor an endangered icon: the California condor."
"San Francisco and Oakland sued five major oil companies in the state courts on Wednesday in the latest attempts to hold fossil fuel producers accountable for the effects of climate change."
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