Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation for DWR personnel of significant news articles and comment
November 25, 2008
1. Top Item -
With forecasters predicting heavy rain and thunderstorms, burned hillsides are at risk.
By Tony Barboza and Tami Abdollah
As Southern California braced for heavy rainstorms that could bring flooding,
The system called some residents long after the Nov. 15 blaze had swept through their neighborhoods. It took up to six hours from the time fire officials ordered evacuations in parts of
AlertOC is operated by the county and uses computer databases of addresses to call large numbers of residents at one time.
But since the fire, the city and county have worked out an agreement in which the city has control over the alert messages, city spokesman Mark Aalders said.
"These are things we're fixing and it shouldn't be an issue," he said, adding that in light of the recent incident, the county accelerated bringing the city on board.
As forecasters predicted heavy rain and thunderstorms to hit Southern California today, officials and residents in
Worker Jose Amezcua-Morales wiped sweat from his brow Monday, taking a moment to catch his breath after five hours of heaving orange sandbags up
Forecasters said the storm would bring the most rain the region had experienced in more than nine months -- with as much as half an inch per hour at its heaviest -- but was expected to taper off in time for Thanksgiving evening.
Flash flood warnings were in effect throughout areas recently ravaged by fires in
"These burn areas, it's not like sand, it's very loose ash, and as the rain comes down, and especially if it's a lot of rain all at once, the first six inches of soil will sop up the rain and it will just come crashing off of there, like an avalanche," said Stuart Seto, a weather specialist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard. "What makes it so bad is that it's not just water anymore, it's mud, debris. It carries a lot of stuff and weight, and that's what can wipe out houses, cars and push things around."
Up to two inches of rain were expected in the coastal and valley areas by the end of the storm, with up to three inches in the mountains. The last significant rainfall in
In
"We've got a serious potential situation, and we're prepared for it," Iskow said.
In
Officials believe the system will work better this time. During the Freeway Complex fire, which started Nov. 15 and destroyed more than 190 homes in
As officials shift their focus from fires to potential flooding, some of the most significant protections are going up along
City workers were granted access to
"If there is a mudflow, there's no stopping it," Aalders said. "The only thing you can do at this point is channel the mudflow away from homes to limit damage to property."
Meanwhile, fire department units with the city and
Fire stations supplied bags and sand to those who needed them.
Officials said they were particularly worried about O'Melveny Park in Granada Hills. Though sandbags were not visible on much of the hill, trenches had been bulldozed above the park to create a "water bar" to divert rainfall into areas with green vegetation.
"You have to understand, this fire actually occurred in the last 10 days," said Los Angeles City Fire Battalion Chief Greg Reynard of the Sayre fire in Sylmar as he surveyed burned areas Monday in the park. "It's not like
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-fire-slide-fears25-2008nov25,0,3889761.story
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