11 Trillion Gallons of Water Fell in the Carolinas in the Past Week

[appalachiablue]

Source: USA Today

The unrelenting heavy rainfall that soaked the Carolinas in the past week amounted to roughly 11 trillion gallons-- enough to end the drought in California.

The rain caused catastrophic flooding in North Carolina and South Carolina, which received 5.2 trillion gallons and 5.8 trillion gallons, respectively, according to data gathered by WeatherBell meteorologist Ryan Maue.

He says 11 trillion gallons would be enough to fill:

636 million swimming pools (16 x 32 feet each)

130,370 Rose Bowls (filled to the top)

It's also about one-third the volume of Lake Tahoe.

And, amazingly, it's the exact amount needed to end the drought in California, according to NASA calculations in December. However, getting all 11 trillion gallons in a few days wouldn't be the way to get it.

"It takes years to get into a drought of this severity, and it will likely take many more big storms, and years, to crawl out of it," Jay Famiglietti, a scientist with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said in December.

So far, the flooding in the Carolinas has killed more than a dozen people and caused $1 billion in damages.

Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/weather/2015/10/06/11-trillion-gallons-water-fell-carolinas-past-week/73447754/

---

- Article by Doyle Rice, USA Today, Oct. 6, 2015, 5:41 PM EDT.

Residents paddle a kayak and take photos on a flooded street in Charleston, SC, Oct. 3, 2015.




A young man walks through flood water carrying work clothes as he evacuates his apartment near Summerville, SC.

[bemildred]

1. Well, for $1 a gallon we could have used it to put a dent in the deficit. nt

[appalachiablue]

2. Use it for something, heaven knows! Our country has some real issues to work on, no sh*t.

[bemildred]

3. Broke 18 dams last time I looked. nt

[appalachiablue]

4. Sounds right. I wonder if we'll just acclimate to freaky weather stuff, like the shootings

and such. Things need to change, please!

[trillion]

10. No, we can't. The shooting hit only a few hundred people directly - family and victims.

Global warming hits millions directly. Don't get me wrong, at this point I'm for total gun ban. It's because I've seen too much of the extreme right wing people who have them.

[SoapBox]

5. Holy moly!

That is a lot of water.

[appalachiablue]

6. What I thought too, holy moly! Quite an 'imbalance' we have in the US, in many ways, hm..

[2015already]

7. California Drought

About 300 Desalination units in CA would solve future drought problems. They have had 20 years to be building them, and chose a high speed rail over common sense.

Not only are these units important to CA, the inland states need water as well to spawn new industry's and farming. These states could help finance the units and pay for their upkeep. We have the potential to turn the West into a jungle.

[Action_Patrol]

8. The energy required is immense.

It isn't magic and no the west will never be a jungle.

[NickB79]

11. How do you propose we power these plants?

Desalination plants are VERY energy-intensive.

To run 300 desal. plants, either we pave over a VERY large chunk of desert with solar panels, or we start building dozens of new nuclear reactors dedicated to the plants pronto.

[snooper2]

14. fusion power

[NickB79]

15. Sweet!

[trillion]

9. Venice! Isn't global warming lovely? Mother nature is up there saying, you seriously have not seen

anything yet. This is dipping the toe in.

[appalachiablue]

12. Yes this storm event, Sandy, the CA drought and ongoing worldwide changes

will seem mild unless global warming and climate change are immediately addressed. But humans are an irrational and inferior species for the most part I think now. And there's no way to 'acclimate' of course.

So far announcements by major institutions like the Defense Dept., the UN, scientific organizations and others who warn of climate change haven't budged many as we know, which is very telling.

Recently General Mills I think it was, also came out about the dangers of climate change knowing how disruptions will impact their corporate bottom line, and they emphasized it as in 'iceburg dead ahead'.

Katrina, western droughts and fires, Sandy, other dramatic changes and the evidence should have been enough. I was near monster Sandy in coastal Del. with 80 mph winds and hell rain but spared, a scary event though I'd seen powerful storms and a couple other near hurricanes. (Florence and Rome I saw but never Venice. Too late now, a shame).
What's it going to take?

[snooper2]

13. Interesting, in Texas they estimate we had 35 trillion gallons in month of May

Of course, little more spread out

[ileus]

16. all those melted glaciers have to find a new home.

Right in climate change denier neighborhoods....how ironic.

[rurallib]

17. could this be some kind of cosmic spelling error?

water was supposed to go to "California" but FSM misspelled it on the order "Carolina." Whoops

[appalachiablue]

18. Interesting, not out of the realm- Carolina, California, spelling glitch. Who knows.