美国国家公共电台 NPR--Huge Rocky Mountain snowfall provides drought relief but causes flood worries

Huge Rocky Mountain snowfall provides drought relief but causes flood worries

Transcript¹

Rain after big fires last year had whole neighborhoods in Flagstaff, Ariz., sandbagging to protect homes. Near-record snowpack in the mountains are threatening to test larger scale flood controls.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

The huge snowfall in the Rocky Mountains this winter is providing some relief after years of drought. That same snowfall is making people nervous because if it melts too quickly, major flooding is a real risk in several states. Ryan Heinsius of our member station KNAU reports on the situation in Flagstaff, Ariz.

RYAN HEINSIUS, BYLINE²: Kyle House walks around his property in a neighborhood that bore the brunt of several major floods last summer, when seasonal³ rains washed down the San Francisco Peaks in the wake of a major wildfire.

KYLE HOUSE: So this was a river right here. We had whitewater streams coming out both sides through both gates. It was a nightmare. We had so much water coming in our yards.

HEINSIUS: The flooding created a waist-high lake in his cul-de-sac, upending he and his neighbors' lives. They quickly mobilized to stack thousands of sandbags and dig ditches to channel the water away from their homes. Those sandbags and ditches are now providing some protection should this winter's record snow melt too fast. Across Flagstaff, more than 1,500 homes are at risk.

HOUSE: We're planning our lives completely differently in the summer. It just provokes all kinds of anxiety. And that's widespread in the neighborhood, for sure.

HEINSIUS: House happens to be a research geologist⁴ who's studied flooding in Arizona for more than three decades. He sees his situation as representative of the much larger danger of wildfires and flooding exacerbated⁵ by climate change.

HOUSE: In terms of being in the Southwest, where you really are on the edge of drought almost all the time, I feel like that we are just right at the ground zero for how bad this problem can get.

HEINSIUS: Just upstream from House's neighborhood, the normally dry Schultz Creek⁶ surges with spring runoff.

ED SCHENK: I'd say Schultz, even during a regular snowmelt season, is usually a trickle⁷. With such a great snowpack this year, yeah, it's looking a lot more like a river.

HEINSIUS: Ed Schenk is Flagstaff stormwater manager. He's standing⁸ on the rim⁹ of three detention¹⁰ basins the city built quickly last fall. They've been mostly containing this huge volume of snowmelt for now. The basins weren't designed for this but rather to hold back massive post-wildfire flooding.

SCHENK: This is hugely fortuitous. If we didn't have these in place, there would have been much more severe flooding impacts through this spring, especially in March when the first snowmelts were coming down.

HEINSIUS: Flagstaff received about double its average snowfall this season. Stacey Brechler-Knaggs is the city's emergency manager.

STACEY BRECHLER-KNAGGS: We're seeing a lot of impact throughout the community just from the snowmelt. It's changed, you know, since just since last week, creating some little overflow¹¹ and coming in pretty fast.

HEINSIUS: Whether the basins will be enough to protect neighborhoods downstream all depends on the weather. If it gets hot too fast or it rains on top of the accumulated snow, there could be widespread flooding. Locals are hoping for a gradual melt. Lucinda Andreani leads the Coconino County Flood Control District, which is preparing to break ground on several large-scale flood mitigation projects.

LUCINDA ANDREANI: This will be the single largest set of projects the district or county have ever undertaken.

HEINSIUS: On a map, Andreani points out where the wildfire heavily scorched¹² several watersheds¹³. Using more than $90 million in federal funding, crews will work to prevent erosion and restore those natural channels. The projects are expected to take two or more years to complete.

ANDREANI: The work that we do on forest basically advances the recovery of the watersheds by about 75 years.

HEINSIUS: Andreani hopes enough work can be done in the near term to avoid a repeat of last summer, when residents had to shelter in place, major highways closed, and neighborhood streets turned into raging rivers. But anxiety levels are rising as communities face the prospect¹⁴ of another monsoon¹⁵ season spent behind piles of sandbags and concrete barriers.

For NPR News, I'm Ryan Heinsius in Flagstaff.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 seasonal   

adj.季节的，季节性的

参考例句：

• The town relies on the seasonal tourist industry for jobs.这个城镇依靠季节性旅游业提供就业机会。
• The hors d'oeuvre is seasonal vegetables.餐前小吃是应时蔬菜。

4 geologist   

n.地质学家

参考例句：

• The geologist found many uncovered fossils in the valley.在那山谷里，地质学家发现了许多裸露的化石。
• He was a geologist,rated by his cronies as the best in the business.他是一位地质学家，被他的老朋友们看做是这门行当中最好的一位。

5 exacerbated   

v.使恶化，使加重( exacerbate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The symptoms may be exacerbated by certain drugs. 这些症状可能会因为某些药物而加重。
• The drugs they gave her only exacerbated the pain. 他们给她吃的药只是加重了她的痛楚。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 creek   

n.小溪，小河，小湾

参考例句：

• He sprang through the creek.他跳过小河。
• People sunbathe in the nude on the rocks above the creek.人们在露出小溪的岩石上裸体晒日光浴。

7 trickle   

vi.淌，滴，流出，慢慢移动，逐渐消散

参考例句：

• The stream has thinned down to a mere trickle.这条小河变成细流了。
• The flood of cars has now slowed to a trickle.汹涌的车流现在已经变得稀稀拉拉。

8 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

9 rim   

n.(圆物的)边，轮缘；边界

参考例句：

• The water was even with the rim of the basin.盆里的水与盆边平齐了。
• She looked at him over the rim of her glass.她的目光越过玻璃杯的边沿看着他。

10 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

11 overflow   

v.(使)外溢，(使)溢出；溢出，流出，漫出

参考例句：

• The overflow from the bath ran on to the floor.浴缸里的水溢到了地板上。
• After a long period of rain,the river may overflow its banks.长时间的下雨天后，河水可能溢出岸来。

12 scorched   

烧焦，烤焦( scorch的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（植物）枯萎，把…晒枯； 高速行驶； 枯焦

参考例句：

• I scorched my dress when I was ironing it. 我把自己的连衣裙熨焦了。
• The hot iron scorched the tablecloth. 热熨斗把桌布烫焦了。

13 watersheds   

n.分水岭( watershed的名词复数 )；分水线；转折点；流域

参考例句：

• Hyetographs are important in estimating stormflow hydrographs from upstream watersheds. 降雨历线资料为上游集水区推估洪水流量历线的重要依据。 来自互联网
• Sediments check dam in small watersheds in loess hilly gully area come from three proportion, i. 黄土丘陵沟壑区治沟骨干工程泥沙淤积来源于坡面侵蚀、沟道侵蚀和库区岸坡坍塌。 来自互联网

14 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

15 monsoon   

n.季雨，季风，大雨

参考例句：

• The monsoon rains started early this year.今年季雨降雨开始得早。
• The main climate type in that region is monsoon.那个地区主要以季风气候为主要气候类型。