Monday Top of the Scroll: Fear of the ‘Big Melt’ turns to big relief along California’s Eastern Sierra
Although a state of emergency remains in effect throughout much of the Eastern Sierra Nevada — a region where epic snowpack had threatened to unleash catastrophic flooding on small valley towns — local officials and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power are finally breathing a collective sigh of relief: The worst days of the “Big Melt” are over, they say. As rivers gorged with snowmelt begin to recede, and egrets glide over catch basins brimming with runoff, officials say that an aggressive and collaborative response — as well as a cooler-than-anticipated spring — helped them avoid massive community flooding and damage to the Los Angeles Aqueduct, the city’s century-old water lifeline. … Now, even as communities throughout the state brace for another potentially wet winter brought on by El Niño, DWP crews continue to clean up after flooding incidents.