High drama, ugly deeds, politics and moments of kindness swirl amid the waters of a re-emerging Tulare Lake
The drama was high on the Tulare Lake bed Saturday as #flood #waters pushed some landowners to resort to #heavy #handed and, in one instance,# illegal #tactics, to try and keep their #farm ground #dry — even at the expense of other farmers and some small communities.
Someone illegally cut the banks of Deer Creek in the middle of the night causing water to rush toward the tiny town of Allensworth.
The levee protecting Corcoran had its own protection as an armed guard patrolled the structure to keep it safe.
At the south end of the old lake bed, the J.G. Boswell Company had workers drag a piece of heavy equipment onto the banks of its Homeland Canal to prevent any cuts that would drain Poso Creek water onto Boswell land.
And a tense political battle ended Saturday afternoon with the Kings County Board of Supervisors voting to cut a levee on Boswell’s land to relieve building pressure from the Tule River. A call to a Boswell representative on Saturday wasn’t returned in time for this story.
And this is only the beginning.
“This is just a #baby #flood compared to what we’ll see later this #spring,” predicted Jack Mitchell, head of the Deer Creek Flood Control District.
That’s when the state’s historic #snowpack will run off the mountains and barrel into the valley like a freight train
https://sjvwater.org/high-drama-ugly-deeds-politics-and-moments-of-kindness-swirl-amid-the-waters-of-a-re-emerging-tulare-lake/