After President Donald Trump claimed he had to send the military into California to "turn on the water," the state's Department of Water Resources (DWR) issued a blunt fact-check.
Trump's post came after Southern California experienced its first significant storm of the season on Monday, bringing snow and heavy rain that helped extinguish wildfires but also triggered ash and mudflows across streets in the Los Angeles area.
The rain began on Saturday, following months of dry and gusty weather that had created hazardous fire conditions.
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Los Angeles County crews spent much of the previous week clearing vegetation, stabilizing slopes, and reinforcing roads in areas ravaged by the Palisades and Eaton fires. These fires, driven by powerful winds on January 7, had reduced entire neighborhoods to rubble and ash.
Amid all this, Trump made a post on Truth Social in which he claimed he'd ordered the military into California to get water flowing to fight the blazes:
"The United States Military just entered the Great State of California and, under Emergency Powers, TURNED ON THE WATER flowing abundantly from the Pacific Northwest, and beyond."
"The days of putting a Fake Environmental argument, over the PEOPLE, are OVER. Enjoy the water, California!!!"
You can see his post below.
@realDonaldTrump/Truth Social
Unsurprisingly, Trump's statements betray his lack of understanding of the issues surrounding Los Angeles' water supply.
The devastating wildfires, fueled by powerful winds and bone-dry conditions, broke out following an exceptionally dry period—Los Angeles received just 0.8 mm of rain from July 1 to January. During one of the state’s hottest summers on record, vegetation that had flourished during a previous period of intense rainfall dried out, creating ample fuel for the fires.
Scientists argue that the unprecedented winter fires highlight how extreme climate fluctuations, or “whiplash” conditions, are intensifying the likelihood of fires and other disasters. Moreover, Governor Gavin Newsom and other Democrats have consistently argued that California’s wildfires are exacerbated by climate change and global warming.
Some experts contend that even the most well-equipped fire agencies would have struggled greatly to control the blazes in such a perfect storm of conditions.
State and local officials have faced scrutiny regarding their preparedness for the fires, especially after hydrants ran dry due to local systems being stretched to their limits.
Trump's words soon caught the attention of California's Department of Water Resources, which fact-checked him immediately in the following post noting that the military had never entered California as Trump falsely claimed:
"The military did not enter California. The federal government restarted federal water pumps after they were offline for maintenance for three days. State water supplies in Southern California remain plentiful."
You can see it below.
This was confirmed by none other than Fox News:
Trump was swiftly called out for blatantly lying.
Trump posted his lie a day after he issued an executive order directing a half-dozen federal agencies, including the Defense Department and the Department of Homeland Security, to develop plans for increasing water deliveries to Southern California and the Central Valley. The order specifically referenced the wildfires in Los Angeles, which Trump toured on Friday.
In the order, Trump criticized California’s “disastrous” policies and alleged water “mismanagement,” directing federal agencies to discard a plan adopted by the Biden administration last month. The plan had established new rules for operating the Central Valley Project and the State Water Project, two of California’s primary water delivery systems serving the Central Valley.
Earlier, he suggested conditioning disaster aid for Los Angeles on tightening voter requirements and increasing water transfers from Northern California to the drier southern regions.
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