President Donald Trump is directing the Army Corps of Engineers to increase water flow from reservoirs in California's Central Valley — and the results could be catastrophic for farmers, Politico reported.
Trump gave the order based on his disputed idea that catastrophic fires in Los Angeles earlier this month were a result of water mismanagement, where water was either being restricted or dumped into the Pacific Ocean. State officials in California have repeatedly debunked his claims. Instead, they said electricity and logistics issues, combined with extremely strong winds that blew ashes faster than firefighters could contain them, posed more problems than water availability.
But that didn't stop Trump from posting to Truth Social that his order has fixed California's problems.
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"Photo of beautiful water flow that I just opened in California," wrote Trump. "Today, 1.6 billion gallons and, in 3 days, it will be 5.2 billion gallons. Everybody should be happy about this long fought Victory! I only wish they listened to me six years ago – There would have been no fire!"
In the area, local officials expressed alarm at Trump's directive and frantically urged the Army Corps of Engineers to prevent a catastrophic surge that could have flooded local communities and farmland.
"Local officials had to talk the Army Corps of Engineers down after it abruptly alerted them Thursday afternoon it was about to increase flows from two reservoirs to maximum capacity," reported Camille von Kaenel and Annie Snider. These officials "scrambled to move equipment and warn farms about possible flooding, said Victor Hernandez, who oversees water management on one of the rivers, the Kaweah in Tulare County. He said the Corps gave him one hour notice on Thursday." He added, “I’ve been here 25 years, and I’ve never been given notice that quick. That was alarming and scary.”
One former senior Bureau of Reclamation official told Politico, “Something really bad could happen because of their nonsensical approach. Floods are real. This isn’t playing around with a software company.”