Jim Costa: “Most are aware that in California we seem to have extreme floods and extreme droughts. Certainly, that has been proven…”

“Most are aware that in California we seem to have extreme floods and extreme droughts. Certainly, that has been proven true in the last month. Last week, I met with local, State, and Federal California water leaders to discuss our efforts to divert flood control and improve groundwater recharge. Recent storms have dumped over 32 trillion, with a t, gallons of water in California, and the weather forecasters are anticipating that in February we will have more rain. We need to be better prepared to avoid what happened in Planada, California where over half of the community was flooded and farmworkers and others lost their homes. A grammar school was literally inundated and now the 300 students are being taught at a middle school. More needs to be done to deal with the displaced farmworkers and the impacts to farmers. I am working with Governor Newsom and the White House to streamline the process to divert floodwater and increase water storage. It is absolutely necessary with climate change and other factors we are dealing with. We have secured some funding to begin to fix our infrastructure. It is time we get these projects permitted and shovels in the ground. Let's get to work. USDA Funding for Dairy Producers”