California snow melt could threaten a diaster

Washington Post -  As California’s brutal winter gives way to the warmth of spring, that deep snowpack will eventually melt, sending a massive amount of water into the vulnerable, low-lying valley below — and toward flood control systems that in many cases are woefully unprepared to handle it. The possible slow-moving disaster looming above the Central Valley — a densely populated agricultural powerhouse that produces a fourth of the nation’s food — has the potential to cause billions in loss and damage, submerge towns and affect tens of thousands of residents, many of them farmworkers and families with low incomes who have already this year endured significant flooding and sodden crops.