In southern California, flooding results from heavy rains, but in northern and eastern parts of the state, melting snow also contributes. Last year s flooding in January and February was one of the biggest disasters in the state s history, says Brutsche. After a heavy snow pack, a warm storm from the Hawaiian islands dumped more water and melted the snow, creating flooding throughout the river system. That relief operation was at least twice as large and expensive as this year. Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix expends most of its energies responding to floods, though it runs emergency drills twice a year at a nuclear power plant and deals with forest fires every summer.
Flooding is tough on the Phoenix desert.
The Arizona desert isn t like the Sahara, says Eldon Bradbury, disaster chairperson at the Central Arizona Chapter of the Red Cross in Phoenix. As state lead for Disaster Services Human Resources, Bradbury is responsible for sending needed people to assist with disasters elsewhere in the country, such as for the recent tornadoes in Florida and flooding in Georgia. We re not really prone to disaster situations, Bradbury says. Maybe once a year. Arizona s spring flooding comes from melting snow in mountains north, south and east of Phoenix.