Flood control in central California was never an issue until this month’s recent storms. Massive amounts of rain fell, with more to come next week. Sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures, as this latest video shows. It shows farmers driving a Chevrolet over a broken dam to the cropland.
Why did they use these trucks?
For truck enthusiasts, it’s an embarrassment to see these work trucks used like this. But record rainfall increases instances of river flooding, as in this scene in the San Joaquin Valley. This is the Tuli River, and the flood is slowly creeping into the pistachio grove.
Control measure before! Here’s how some farmers are dealing with a breach in the bottom of Lake Tulare. I suppose it will accumulate some extra dirt on it.
– Canon Michael (@aleader)
The truck and the force of the water put it right in the hole. But that’s not where it ends. Subsequent photos show farmers piling dirt on pickups, slowly filling the dam. The final footage shows their final work, with the truck’s rolling dirt burial as the basis for this new tax.
Yes, the pickups still have gas and oil, which can cause damage to the orchard and. But burying these trucks is not their final resting place. The trucks will see daylight once the waters recede, according to a poster on Twitter. Of course, it’s roasted, but at least it won’t leach contaminants.
Cars and trucks for erosion control
We’ve seen riverbanks lined to support river erosion for decades. Junk cars are known as rip-rap, and they line riverbanks and dams as the main drag. Fill in original tree limbs, brush and rocks around unwanted cars to protect dirt and brush from further wear.
If you’re wondering why you don’t see this happen more often, it’s because the practice is now against the law in most places in the United States. Besides the blight, leaching of oil and gasoline damages river edges. Not to mention the rusting of the metal and anything else degrading from the slow deterioration of the cars.
Did the trucks serve a purpose, or did they?
But as far as the temporary dam is concerned, the good news is that nothing seems to have happened at all. Let’s hope the truck-and-dirt combo holds up a little while longer as California Central prepares for another streak of rainstorms that are set to hit next week.
