FLOOD-HIT FARMERS GET RELIEF : DISASTER AID, LEVEE REPAIRS HEAD ACTIONS.Byline: Scripps-McClatchy Western Service Flood-weary California California (kăl'ĭfôr`nyə), most populous state in the United States, located in the Far West; bordered by Oregon (N), Nevada and, across the Colorado River, Arizona (E), Mexico (S), and the Pacific Ocean (W). farmers seeking relief and assurances of government action received both Thursday from Gov. Pete Wilson For others named Pete Wilson, see . Peter Barton Wilson (born August 23, 1933) is an American Republican politician from California. Wilson served as the thirty-sixth Governor of California (1991–1999), the culmination of more than three decades in the public arena that and the state Board of Food & Agriculture. Wilson directed his Office of Emergency Services emergency services Emergency care '…services …necessary to prevent death or serious impairment of health and, because of the danger to life or health, require the use of the most accessible hospital available and equipped to furnish those services' to provide $8.25 million in disaster aid to relieve heavily damaged areas. Agricultural loss from the January floods is estimated at $245 million in California - and is expected to go higher in the next few months. Wilson also directed the state Department of Water Resources to begin pumping standing water off more than 70,000 acres of land in six Northern California Northern California, sometimes referred to as NorCal, is the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. The region contains the San Francisco Bay Area, the state capital, Sacramento; as well as the substantial natural beauty of the redwood forests, the northern counties by the end of this week. At the same time, the Food & Agriculture board issued a series of recommendations to Wilson's recently formed Flood Emergency Action Team. The recommendations - designed to help Golden State farmers through financial relief, levee levee (lĕv`ē) [Fr.,=raised], embankment built along a river to prevent flooding by high water. Levees are the oldest and the most extensively used method of flood control. repairs and safeguards against future flood disasters - included: Maintaining coordination with local, state and federal agencies through the dry season, including a state emergency response team with ``one voice'' authority to respond to flood crises. Expedite ex·pe·dite tr.v. ex·pe·dit·ed, ex·pe·dit·ing, ex·pe·dites 1. To speed up the progress of; accelerate. 2. levee repairs to prevent more flooding, with repairs ultimately meeting 100-year flood standards. Develop new water storage and reservoir projects for flood control. The governor's announcements and board recommendations came at the end of a morninglong public forum on the impact of 1997 floods on the state's agriculture industry. The board hosted the forum at Department of Food & Agriculture headquarters downtown. |
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