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Phoenix, California

February 1986

From February 11-20, a series of three storms, each stronger than the previous, brought record-setting rain that, in some areas of Sacramento, overwhelmed flood control measures and led to flooding and destruction. Video (Foreshadowing: The storm also brought eventual changes to California's existing flood control system which I worked on at DWR in the mid-2000s) The storms even pushed Folsom Lake to a level higher than its designed capacity, the only time this has happened.The high flows on the Feather River first led to a levee failure near the town of Linda. The flood covered 30 square miles and in some areas, water was 10-feet deep. It was very scary. The bottom line is that we decided to get out of town – to someplace warm and dry. Phoenix hit the spot.