Kern County Braces for Flooding with Preparations and Risk Assessment.

Chevron is taking measures to avoid an oil spill at its Kern River Oil Field in California in the event of catastrophic flooding caused by the state's "Big Melt". The company is shutting down wells, draining pipelines, turning off electrical power, erecting dikes and bolstering river banks with riprap. The US Army Corps of Engineers has said it will provide advance warning of six to 10 hours if it determines that emergency releases of water large enough to flood portions of the oil field are necessary to prevent the reservoir from being overwhelmed by snowmelt.