Southern California is getting no rest. After the fire ravaged their communities, the remnants of winter storm Grayson brought rain and a heightened risk of mudslides, prompting evacuation warnings to areas downhill.
For this reason, the Santa Barbara Office of Emergency Management issued mandatory evacuations for areas below the Thomas, Whittier, Sherpa and Rey fire burn areas.
It covers unincorporated parts of Santa Barbara County, Montecito, Summerland, and Carpinteria including all areas North of Highway 192, East of Cold Springs Road and West of the Highway 150 to the county line.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Heavy rainfall and high winds expected to begin this evening. Rainfall expected at 1/2"-1" per hour and may reach 4-7 inches in the foothills. Gusty winds expected at 45 mph up to 70 mph in the foothills. High probability of falling trees, mud and debris flow. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SantaBarbaraCounty?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SantaBarbaraCounty</a> <a href="https://t.co/pQH2wFGBBX">pic.twitter.com/pQH2wFGBBX</a></p>— Santa Barbara County (@countyofsb) <a href="https://twitter.com/countyofsb/status/950558011612901376?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 9, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Forecasters also issued flash flood watches for parts for Sonoma and Mendocino counties north of San Francisco whilst warning that heavy rainfall might indeed trigger mudslides.
The St Thomas fire that raged last year leveled entire neighborhoods, killed 44 people and destroyed more than 8,900 homes and other buildings.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">About 21,000 people evacuated as rain unleashes <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MUDSLIDE?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MUDSLIDE</a> risk in fire-ravaged California <a href="https://t.co/6qCfmUw1t2">https://t.co/6qCfmUw1t2</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GPWX?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GPWX</a></p>— Tim Melino (@TimMelino) <a href="https://twitter.com/TimMelino/status/950536151496085504?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 9, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Santa Rosa Fire Marshal Paul Lowenthal stated: "City crews are actively driving around looking for signs of any flooding, mudslides, things of that nature. They are making sure water is flowing, making sure debris clogging storm drains or gutters is cleared up."
"The fire damaged a significant amount of trees and although a lot of the trees have been cut down and removed, there are still a lot of trees that could be a concern."
Due to the extremely dry conditions over the summer last year, California was afterward hit with some of the most destructive blazes on both ends of the state.
Source:
http://www.scpr.org/news/2018/01/08/79598/thomas-fire-mudslide-debris-threat-rain/
Burn. And then drown you bitches.