Dammed if we do: State flood control system said ready to handle extreme weather event

As the Bay Area keeps an eye out for raging flood waters amid the latest series of winter storms hammering the region this week, water officials at the California Department of Water Resources are cautiously optimistic that this could replenish some of the state’s heavily depleted reservoirs; but after four years of drought, heavy rains of this frequency and magnitude also pose a threat to property, natural resources and human life.

On Tuesday, the National Weather Service warned that the storm could bring extreme winds and anywhere from 2 to 10 inches of rain around the Bay Area.