The winter of 40 years ago in Sacramento was eerily reminiscent of the current one, with a bone-dry January as storms bypassed the region to the north. Then a band of moisture originating in Hawaii put a bull’s-eye on Northern California.
More water raced down the American River 40 years ago Thursday than Folsom Dam had ever experienced, then or now. Had the river risen just 6 more inches, or had the storm lasted a few more hours, much of Sacramento would have likely been underwater.
The fear of flooding has steadily faded in Sacramento because of what happened after the great storms of 1986…