Video: Documentary explains California’s spring storms
The California Emergency Management Agency (Cal EMA) has released a short public education documentary about the destruction caused by a storm system that hovered over the state in March. The nine-minute video, “What Happened?: California’s Spring Storm Disaster,” aims to explain the meteorological factors that contributed to the event and officials’ response to it.
The storm began with a low-pressure system that parked over the Pacific Ocean and pushed relentless bursts of heavy rains, snow and high winds throughout the state over 12 days. The storms caused more than $50 million in damages, left dozens of major roads impassable, flooded the town of Capitola and led to a state of emergency for 17 counties. “It’s difficult for people to appreciate the sheer magnitude of this disaster because of the wide spread effects in different parts of the state,” said Mike Dayton, acting secretary of the California Emergency Management Agency, in a statement. “We decided the best way to educate people about this disaster was to document the impacts on video and talk to experts who explain how unusual, and powerful, this storm system really was.”
The video includes as-it-happened footage of a major landslide on Nelson Road in Santa Cruz County, as well as video of flood waters raging through downtown Capitola and inundating the town’s police department and emergency operations center. It also features interviews with an expert from the National Weather Service in Monterey, officials from the most affected county of Santa Cruz and state emergency managers.
View the video below.
Cal EMA March Storm Documentary from CalEMA on Vimeo.