Flying an aircraft over a flooded Corcoran can be dangerous, deputies say

The Tulare County Sheriff’s Office is warning the community to be cautious when flying an aircraft over the floodings in Corcoran.

Deputies say over the past two weeks, they have seen several of them in the area.

This—raises concerns as not all aircrafts have an Automate Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADSB), that allow aircrafts to see each other.

These situations are a hazard for law enforcement as they are constantly flying over the area to determine evacuation plans, road closures, sandbags placements and water level monitoring.

According to the sheriff’s office, Alpaugh and Corcoran State Prison fall into a military operating area with aircrafts in use between 5,000-17,999 ft Mean Sea Level (MSL).

To help avoid any mid-air collisions, the sheriff’s office is asking those that are flying to make sure it is below 6,500 MSL and to self-report their location/altitude on 122.75 MHz.

Sheriff Mike Boudreaux said water, food, and supplies are still being delivered to people cut off by flooding and damaged roads in Tulare County.

The sheriff said there are about 800 to 900 firefighters at the incident command each day plus planning teams working hard in regards to the flooding.

The latest drought monitor release shows more improvement across the state.

55 percent of the state is now completely out of drought conditions.

The latest report shows a lot of improvement in Northern California.

Much of the area from Yolo County all the way up to Shasta County moved from moderate drought to abnormally dry.

In Southern California, Kern and Los Angeles counties are almost entirely out of drought conditions too.

Central and Southern Sierra snowpack levels are well above the historical max which was recorded back in 1982.

April 1st is typically the end of the snow year as temperatures begin to warm.