[scapecast]

As someone who drives around that area a lot, I can confirm that things do flatten out a lot. Everything West and East of I-5 is orchards, as well as North and South of I-80.

Quite a bit of that area is already water (the Delta), and we've seen during the heavy rains during 2017 (the period the article refers to) how the land around it can take a lot of flooding.

I've driven down the road from the dam to Winters, and the chutes I think would act like a giant water cannon. I wouldn't have high hopes for Winters. Driving down that road, I kept thinking "why would anyone buy real estate here?" - yet people do.