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GUEST: Professor of Geology at UC Davis

California governor Schwarzenegger has declared a state of emergency for two dozen communities in California that are at risk of flooding from recent heavy rainfall. The state is liable for damage from most levee breaks, even if it didn’t build the levees. Last year’s devastation in New Orleans has raised fears of similar flooding in California after the recent heavy rainfall.

There is historical precedent. In 1986, the town of Linda, California, north of Sacramento, was flooded when the Sacramento River broke through the levees that were supposed to contain it. Then in 1997, more than 30 levees ruptured in California killing nine people and flooding large areas of the state.

My guest is Jeffrey Mount, a U.C. Davis geology professor and former member of the state reclamation board, a panel dissolved by Governor Schwarzenegger.

For more information, visit www.water.ca.gov