The first rain of the year in Los Angeles could help or harm the victims of fires

CNN
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With parts of the Los Angeles County still burning because of forest fires and with new spotlights, the rainfall planned for this weekend seems a welcome relief. But the way the rain falls could make the difference between a truce or a repetition of the catastrophe.
Los Angeles County faces a high probability of generalized rain this weekend, with light intensities distributed in many hours, said the National Meteorological Service.
There are no large flood risks, except a probability of 5% to 10% of significant debris in burning scars for angels and ventura county, said the weather service. Heavy rains is also expected isolated up to 12 mm per hour.
But the Los Angeles floor has not received a rain drop this year. “It behaves more like cement; The soil cannot accept water, so everything goes to runoff immediately, ”said Ariel Cohen, the meteorologist in charge of the National Meteorological Service office in Los Angeles.
So if the rain falls at a slow and constant pace that can be absorbed by the burned soil, the showers will be useful.
But brief bursts of rain could cause sudden floods that would loosen the soil and debris on the carbonized slopes, sending them to the decimated neighborhoods.
“It could lead to rapid mud flows, rocks and remains of the fire that would be conglomerated and rapidly extended downhill,” Cohen said. “It has the potential to cause damage, demolishing other structures. And it could certainly be a threat to life and property. ”
Local and state authorities, annoyed by the criticisms received for not having done enough to avoid the destruction caused by forest fires, claim to be prepared for the possible consequences of the rains.
The mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, issued an emergency order to prevent contaminated water and mud from penetrating in the city’s rain drains. The city is accelerating the cleaning of debris and installing concrete barriers in the burned areas.
The California Water Resources Department reported that more than 250,000 sandbags have been placed in flood areas. The teams have also excavated pits on the slopes, called “rubble dikes”, to collect the sediments that can be released during the rains.
Residents in areas at risk of landslide must get “sandbags in advance”, available in all firefighters, and know how Angels, David Richardson.
“Stay away from flooding areas. Do not try to go into motion waters, ”Richardson warned. “Do not try to rescue someone who is being dragged. Instead, call 911 ”.
The rain forecast occurs at the end of another red flag warning period by which almost 100,000 clients were cut as a precautionary measure on Thursday.
The catastrophic fires of Palisades and Eaton, in which 28 people have died and have burned more than 16,000 hectares since January 7, have not grown much in more than a week. But a wave of new forest fires has tormented southern California this week.
On Thursday afternoon two new fires broke out in San Diego County.
The Border 2 fire burned more than 2,144 hectares and caused an evacuation order on Friday. The fire is contained in 10% and extends through the wild area of Otay Mountain, near the border between the US and Mexico.
Although the Border 2 fire zone is not densely populated, “there is a threat to critical communication infrastructures,” said the Forest Department and Fire Protection of California, also known as Cal Fire.
The Gilman fire, south of the jolla, also began on Thursday and burned one hectare before stopping, said Cal Fire.
Back in Los Angeles County, the Hughes fire has incinerated more than 4,000 hectares since it exploded near Castaic Lake on Wednesday. Several areas are under order of evacuation, and the fire was contained in 56% on Friday.
Meteorologists do not expect the type of rainfall caused by some of the most destructive land detachments in the region. The community of Montecito, in Santa Barbara County, was practically destroyed after the winter storm that immediately followed the Thomas fire, in which 23 people died.
And the unique geography of southern California leaves some constant areas of terrestrial instability.
The past fall, the coastal city of Rancho Palos Verdes suffered the sudden movement of a complex of landslides of decades of seniority, which destroying the roads and put multimillion -dollar homes to the edge of destruction.
The city has invested millions of dollars in “drain wells”, sucking more than 112 million gallons of destabilizing soil in a desperate effort to underpin the neighborhoods.
An advance of the worst possible scenario after the rains of this weekend could be seen in Palisades two weeks ago, when a house overlooking the ocean that survived the fire was literally split by half by a landslide, apparently caused by the Water runoff used to fight fire.
“There are risks of mud flows and debris even when it does not rain,” said Public Works Director of Los Angeles County, Mark Pestrella.
Raya Reynaga’s house was destroyed in Eaton’s deadly fire, and the Altadena resident was about to suffer the same destination.
“I did not receive any warning. No one knocked on my door, ”Reynaga told CNN on Friday. “I was the last person on my street. They had to come looking for me. The day before we had electricity cuts, ”said Reynaga. “That day, I was completely dark. There was no electricity. It was a nightmare. ”
Reynaga is one of the many Altadena residents who say they never received a warning to evacuate during the Eaton fire, which killed 17 people in Los Angeles County.
A CNN investigation revealed deficiencies in emergency alert systems not only in southern California, but throughout the country.
The Los Angeles County authorities requested an independent investigation to review the emergency alert system used during the recent Eaton and Palisades fires.
“This independent evaluation will ensure that we are better prepared for future catastrophes and that we can act quickly to protect lives and goods,” said the president of the Los Angeles County Supervisors, Kathryn Barger.
Reynaga had a message for the authorities about the lack of evacuation alerts:
“Do it better, because lives have been lost. This is completely unacceptable. ”
President Donald Trump is expected to travel to California on Friday after visiting western North Carolina, devastated by Hurricane Helene.
The governor of California, Gavin Newsom, said that the White House did not inform him of Trump’s visit, but said he is “happy” that the president accepts his invitation.
Trump has threatened to retain aid to California, saying that state authorities have to change the way they manage water. On Friday, Trump launched another demand before California could receive “a lot of help from the US.”
“I want two things: I want voters identification for the people of California … and I want the water to be released,” Trump said during his stop in North Carolina.
In a social truth publication, Trump falsely hinted that the angels lacked water to turn off the fires because the governor chose to protect an “essentially worthless fish called Eperlano”, which is only found in northern California.
Reynaga, who said he has not received any financial aid from his insurance company or the federal government after losing his home, described Trump’s threat as “terrible.”
“We need to rebuild. We need funds. We need financing, ”said Reynaga. “So that would simply devastate and victimize us again.”
California Attorney General, Rob Bonta, told Newsnation that putting conditions to aid to a state that suffers a natural disaster is a “big mistake.”
“The president ran to the presidency to be the president of the United States of America, not only of the Republican States of the US,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what partisan preference the State has.”