Wildfire-scarred areas in Los Angeles County face flood and landslide risks as Southern California braces for its first major winter rain this weekend, News.Az citing the Los Angeles Times.
“The threat is high enough to prepare for the worst-case scenario,” the National Weather Service office in Oxnard said on social media.
Forecasters said there is now a 10% to 20% chance of significant flash flooding and debris flow capable of damaging roads and homes in the most vulnerable recently burned areas, namely, the areas of the Palisades and Franklin fires around Pacific Palisades and Malibu, the Eaton fire around Altadena and Pasadena, the Hughes fire around Lake Castaic, and the Bridge fire in the Angeles National Forest north of Glendora.
The Bridge fire burned more than 56,000 acres in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties in the autumn, destroying 81 structures and injuring eight firefighters.
Based on a U.S. Geological Survey assessment, these burned areas have the greatest potential for significant debris flow, said Ryan Kittell, a weather service meteorologist.
“They’re some of the freshest burn scars. They’re close to communities and/or vulnerable infrastructure. And the orientation of the terrain would favor those areas, in particular, having the higher chances, the higher potentials, for those higher totals and rainfall intensities,” Kittell said.
The probability of flooding and debris flow in those recently burned areas, issued Friday afternoon, is up from the 5% to 10% chance that was forecast a day earlier. “While damaging debris flows are not the most likely outcome, there is still a lot of uncertainty with this storm,” the weather service said.
“The threat is high enough to prepare for the worst-case scenario,” the National Weather Service office in Oxnard said on social media.
Forecasters said there is now a 10% to 20% chance of significant flash flooding and debris flow capable of damaging roads and homes in the most vulnerable recently burned areas, namely, the areas of the Palisades and Franklin fires around Pacific Palisades and Malibu, the Eaton fire around Altadena and Pasadena, the Hughes fire around Lake Castaic, and the Bridge fire in the Angeles National Forest north of Glendora.
The Bridge fire burned more than 56,000 acres in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties in the autumn, destroying 81 structures and injuring eight firefighters.
Based on a U.S. Geological Survey assessment, these burned areas have the greatest potential for significant debris flow, said Ryan Kittell, a weather service meteorologist.
“They’re some of the freshest burn scars. They’re close to communities and/or vulnerable infrastructure. And the orientation of the terrain would favor those areas, in particular, having the higher chances, the higher potentials, for those higher totals and rainfall intensities,” Kittell said.
The probability of flooding and debris flow in those recently burned areas, issued Friday afternoon, is up from the 5% to 10% chance that was forecast a day earlier. “While damaging debris flows are not the most likely outcome, there is still a lot of uncertainty with this storm,” the weather service said.
