California’s zombie lake turned farmland into water. A year later, is it gone for good?
On May 18, 2023, water rises in the Tulare Lake watershed and floods a road in Helm Corner, California. Photo: Caroline Brehman/EPA
Last year it was difficult to drive through much of central California without encountering the new shoreline of a long-dormant lake.
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Resurrected for the first time in decades by an epic deluge of winter rain and snow, the lake covered more than 100,000 acres in the spring, spanning cotton, tomato and pistachio fields and miles of roads.
Tulare Lake, or Pa'ashi as it is known to ...