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Bureau of Reclamation, which oversees the Central Valley Project — a vast network of dams, reservoirs and canals that delivers water supplies across the state.

The Central Valley Project is the federal companion to the State Water Project, which performs a similar function.

Jacobsen said that farmers in the Central Valley have, as the secretary suggested, embraced automation, but also know its limits.

Low-lying areas along rivers and creeks can be hazardous when downpours and torrents come, as shown by past floods in parts of the state including the Los Angeles area, the Central Valley and the Central Coast.

In May, at least two California offices of the NWS said they no longer have enough staff to operate overnight: Hanford and Sacramento, which together cover nearly all of the Central Valley and Sierra Nevada mountains, some of the state’s most fire-and-flood-prone areas.