Mudslides in the Burned Over District

Posted on December 26, 2003 in California Watch Old Fire

As I explained earlier, this is why the quenching of the fires was not the end of the San Bernardino disaster story:

Even before the October fires were fully extinguished, geologists and flood control engineers cautioned that the chances of a catastrophic landslide in the charred areas had increased exponentially.

The peril is particularly grave in the canyons and foothills of San Bernardino County, where urbanization has crept closer to the mountains in recent years….

[T]he threatened regions include a wide swath of mountain communities that are home to thousands of people, and numerous critical roadways. Not everyone has heeded the warnings to stay out of the canyons during strong rains, and due to the extent of by fire damage authorities said they would have to close off an entire 30-mile portion of the mountains to fully keep everyone out of harm’s way during heavy rains.

More than three inches of rain fell in the areas where mudslides occurred Thursday — a substantial downpour, but nothing compared to the concentrated storms that experts dub 25-year and 100-year floods. Nonetheless, it was clearly enough to wreak widespread destruction.

For information about how you can help, write to SBfirehelp@alsirat.com. This automatically forwards to the San Bernardino Red Cross. It is going to be a long, hard winter.

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We often went up Waterman Canyon when I growing up in San Bernardino. The slit down the front of the San Bernardino Mountains was one of the few low places where one could cool one’s feet in a year-round creek and enjoy the shade of sycamores, live oaks, and alders.

I often passed St. Sophia’s when I sneaked up the canyon with my parents’ car, a cream colored Ford Fairlane. I never went inside, but I remember the cabins that lined the road. When I took Lynn down through there about three years ago, we braked for a red racer that glided across the road. The snake seemed to levitate, as if it were buoyed up by the hot asphalt.

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My mother’s house is fine. She lives on the alluvial plain, about three miles from the mouth of the canyon. Most of the houses in her neighborhood are propped up about three feet from the ground. I often wondered about the need for a crawl space, but thinking about how the water can rush out of a canyon, I realize that this was a wise move. There are also flood control channels leading out of the canyon mouths, directing the water into the Santa Ana River.

If only the Bush Administration had shown a little more foresight. We knew the brush needed to be cleared and Gray Davis saw the problem. If Bush had worked with the governor instead of concentrating his energies on unseating him, yesterday’s disasters would not have occurred.