Reply #1: We don't have levees. We have diversion channels [View All]

[Warpy]

which are the old arroyos and dry washes that have been lined with concrete and fitted with gear to help the fire department rescue kids who play in them without watching for storms on the mountain.

Flood control is a huge thing out here in the desert, but ours are flash floods from higher altitude storms. I've seen a few inches of water in arroyos sweep castoff refrigerators and unlucky cars downstream; I once saw an entire wooden garden shed going down a diversion channel.

A few bad apple developers on the edge of town filled in some of the arroyos so that their mcmansions would have bigger yards. They got away with it for years when we were in severe drought, but those years ended with the wet summer of 2006 and those fancy houses are now sitting next to big ditches instead of the patios and outdoor kitchens they once sported. It was quite a scandal.

The one thing everybody needs to know is that water always wins, whether it's a leak in the roof or a bad gutter or a pinhole in a pipe or a river with a flood plain.