Key Facts Of The Day 5/3

• On Friday, a tornado that barreled through parts of Kansas destroyed or damaged hundreds of homes and buildings, injured several people, and left more than 15,000 people without power.
• As of Tuesday, there are currently 12 large active wildfires that have burned 254,099 acres across AZ, FL, NC, NM, and TN. As of Tuesday, 22,324 wildfires have burned 1,120,330 acres across the country.
• The Colorado River reservoirs are so low that the federal government is delaying releases.

Storms and Flooding

• On Friday, a tornado that barreled through parts of Kansas destroyed or damaged hundreds of homes and buildings, injured several people, and left more than 15,000 people without power.
  • There were no reported fatalities or critical injuries from the tornado itself.
  • Officials said only a few injuries had been reported, including three people in Sedgwick County.
  • Search and rescue operations continued Saturday with more than 200 emergency responders from 30 agencies.
  • Andover Fire Chief Chad Russell said there are homes knocked completely off their foundations and entire neighborhoods wiped out.
  • Gov. Laura Kelly declared a state of disaster emergency for the hardest-hit areas.
  • In addition to the tornadoes, large hail was reported in several towns across the plains.
• Heavy rainfall has continued to cause rising levels on rivers within the Red Lake basin.
  • The Pembina County, North Dakota Sheriff’s Office says some areas “will become inundated, and residents may be unable to leave due to flooded streets.”
  • On Monday, the National Weather Service issued a flood warning for Willow Creek near Willow City, affecting McHenry and Bottineau counties in North Dakota, and the Red Lake River at Crookston, Minnesota.
• Three watershed and flood prevention projects in Tennessee are receiving $2.9 million from the federal government.
  • The Tennessee projects include:
    • The Trace Creek watershed in Humphreys County, where floods in 2021 caused 20 fatalities; 
    • The Cypress Creek watershed in McNairy County, where flooding has occurred in recent years;
    • And the Spencer City Lake watershed in Van Buren County, where there are water supply shortages.

Wildfires

• As of Tuesday, there are currently 12 large active wildfires that have burned 254,099 acres across AZ, FL, NC, NM, and TN. As of Tuesday, 22,324 wildfires have burned 1,120,330 acres across the country.
• As of Tuesday, the Tunnel Fire in Arizona has burned 19,075 and is 95% contained. 
  • Residents in the close-knit Girls Ranch neighborhood near Flagstaff faced a dilemma to quickly grab whatever they could and flee or try to ward off the flames.
    • One couple decided to stay as they had already thinned parts of the national forest on the other side of their property line and regularly mowed the grass.
    • One resident found her neighbor semi-conscious, gasping for air, and in need of help to evacuate.
• As of Tuesday, the Cooks Peak Fire in New Mexico has burned 59,076 acres and is 72% contained.
• As of Tuesday, the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire in New Mexico has burned 138,912 acres and is 20% contained.
  • Some residents hurried to pack their cars with belongings, while others hustled to clear brush from around their homes.
  • The county jail, the state’s psychiatric hospital, and more than 200 students from the United World College have evacuated. 
  • Businesses that remained open were having difficulty finding workers as more people were forced from their homes.
  • Officials have said the northeastern New Mexico fire has damaged or destroyed 172 homes and at least 116 structures.
  • State environmental authorities and officials in Las Vegas also asked people to conserve water to ensure fire crews have enough to fight the blaze.
  • Across New Mexico, officials and groups collected food, water, and other supplies for the thousands of people displaced by the fires.
  • The blaze is expected to keep growing, putting it on track to possibly be one of the largest and most destructive in the state’s recorded history.
• Texas’s wildfire risk, the second-highest in the country after California, is expected to rise further as the climate changes.
  • Some experts and first responders say Texas is already seeing more frequent and more destructive wildfires—a trend influenced by climate change and population growth.
• Utilities in the Pacific Northwest such as Pacific Power, Avista, Idaho Power, Portland General Electric, and Puget Sound Energy are either required to submit or voluntarily submit wildfire mitigation plans.
  • These reports show significant spending increases to harden infrastructure, remove trees near power lines and install systems to instantaneously de-energize circuits if a fault is detected during a windstorm.
  • Utilities will eventually seek to recover those costs through customers’ monthly bills.
  • The wildfire plans also describe what combination of drought, heat, and predicted high winds would lead Northwestern electric companies to preemptively cut off the power as a last resort to prevent fire ignitions.

Extreme Heat

• The Colorado River reservoirs are so low that the federal government is delaying releases.
  • While both reservoirs are at their lowest points, the decision will keep more water in Lake Powell on the Arizona-Utah border instead of releasing it downstream to Lake Mead.
  • Behind Glen Canyon Dam, Powell currently holds less than one-fourth of its amount when it filled after the dam was built in the 1960s.
  • There were concerns that Powell could decline further over the next 24 months to a “critically-low” level at which the dam could no longer generate hydropower.
  • The bureau will also release a half million additional acre-feet into Powell from an upstream reservoir, Flaming Gorge, at the Utah-Wyoming border.
  • Lake Mead is currently at 31% of capacity, and because it gets almost all its water from releases from Powell, the pending decision will cause it to fall even lower.

New Reports And Data

• An April 2022 study found that the health of residents living alongside a bus route became considerably better when hybrid buses were replaced by fully electric buses.
• An April 2022 study found a new type of bacteria that sticks to plastic in the deep sea to travel around the ocean.
• An April 2022 study found that species will need to relocate as climate shifts, and people may have to help them.