Kings County officials urge people to prepare for historic Tulare Lake to flood

KINGS COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- People who live in parts of Kings County that haven't seen flooding yet, could see it in the coming months as rivers flow into the historic Tulare Lake.

It's a lake bottom that's been dry for many years, but now, could reemerge.

The large amount of rain and snow we've seen all has to go somewhere.

Officials are bracing for more water to come and the department of water resources is now on the ground in the valley working with counties to mitigate damage.

"Kings County is a receiver county, so once water gets here, it stays here." Kings County Sheriff's Office Public Information Officer Sergeant Nate Ferrier said.

The historic Tulare Lake is starting to re-emerge.

The area, centered in Kings County, receives water from multiple prominent rivers.

The Kings River flows in from Pine Flat.

Cross Creek, fed from St. John's River, comes from Kaweah Lake.

The Tule River comes in from Lake Success and officials say there is potential for Lake Isabella in Kern County to feed into the Kern River which would also eventually end up in Tulare Lake.

Once it's there, officials say there's really no where for it to go.

"It either has to evaporate, soak into the ground, some of it can be syphoned off for irrigation once the weather warms up, but at the end of the day there's just no where to put it it's literally a bowl and it fills up with water," Sgt. Ferrier said.

County officials are surveying issues on the ground and from the air daily, especially bridges and levees.

Director of the State Department of Water Resources Karla Nemeth was on the ground Friday to see the flooding first hand.

She said water is flowing as it has historically, straight to Tulare Lake.

DWR will be working with counties on how to handle the influx of water.

"The task ahead is to, for the department, is to support the county -- all counties in understanding what's coming at them from a hydrology and hydraulic perspective and assist them in making determinations around where that water needs to go," Nemeth said.

She says with a likely historic snowpack this year, this will be an ongoing effort for months to come.

"We're going to be focused on the best strategies with these counties to minimize and mitigate flood damage as we move through the season. It's going to be a very long duration snowmelt."

Officials say right now, cities are not threatened, this is just something they want people who live in this area to be prepared for.

They say as the water moves in, we could see more issues with levee breaches, bridges washing out, roads being damaged and more.

You can sign up for emergency alerts from Kings County and follow along on the Kings County Sheriff's Office Facebook page for the latest updates.