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LIVE: 15 dead after California mudslides


Still Waters

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I am so sorry. It was on the news this side as well.

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What a horrific experience! I feel so sorry for those victims

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Unfortunately, this might just be the beginning of such events this season.  The hillsides that were denuded during the fires have a tendency to let go if they get a lot of rain.  I hope the county governments and rescue services are able to help evacuate those most at risk.  This is so sad.  Imagine escaping wildfires, only to lose your home and possibly, your family, in mudslides a couple of months later...  :(

http://www.newsweek.com/california-fires-wiped-out-forests-and-now-huge-mudslides-are-killing-people-776676

ETA: link

 

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Shoot!  Half our crew lives in the fire stomped areas.  That storm was a deluge by CA standards.  After a fire, rain is the worst thing for these areas.

 

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I was looking at pictures coming out last night. The power in those mudslides is so devastating. Cars were mangled beyond recognition. I feel so bad for those people. In a lot of cases, nothing is left.

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8 hours ago, susieice said:

I was looking at pictures coming out last night. The power in those mudslides is so devastating. Cars were mangled beyond recognition. I feel so bad for those people. In a lot of cases, nothing is left.

Some of those images took me back to the Mt. Saint Helen's eruption and the debris field downslope.  

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The greatest mistake we make is underestimating nature...every beautiful sunset has a equally vicious event happening somewhere. Thing is we don't always know about it...

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Mud slides following fires happens every year in the west.  One wonders why those people didn't prepare, or at least, get out of the way.

Doug

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2 minutes ago, Doug1o29 said:

Mud slides following fires happens every year in the west.  One wonders why those people didn't prepare, or at least, get out of the way.

Doug

I have thought about that long and hard...and came to the conclusion that it is not a given that you will have it yearly to this extent which means you leave your life and your livelihood behind (move away) for a maybe its gonna happen. You have put up your whole life there...

Other side of the coin you have to die sometime...sounds harsh but its true. Doesn't mean its your time when there is a disaster..heck you can survive this disaster..get the flu and die...

And when they got warning they did (some) evacuate...so they tried...

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6 minutes ago, DebDandelion said:

I have thought about that long and hard...and came to the conclusion that it is not a given that you will have it yearly to this extent which means you leave your life and your livelihood behind (move away) for a maybe its gonna happen. You have put up your whole life there...

Other side of the coin you have to die sometime...sounds harsh but its true. Doesn't mean its your time when there is a disaster..heck you can survive this disaster..get the flu and die...

And when they got warning they did (some) evacuate...so they tried...

These mudslides happen near the burn.  The area is only subject to them for one, or possible twy, seasons, by which time grass, weeds and sprouting bushes grow up and re-anchor the hillsides.- fuel for the next fire.

One should not build a house in such areas to begin with.  You can tell where the landslide and mudflow deposits are by looking at the ground.  Building a house where there has been a mudflow is asking to get it swept away in the next one.

I once saw a series of photos taken from a photopoint - a place where a photo is taken every year, looking in the same direction.  This is used to assess changes in vegetation.  The one I am thinking of was established in the 1930s following a major fire in southern California.  The first picture shows a moonscape of burned trees and the remains of houses.  Over the ensuing years, the forest returns, as do the houses.  The series ended with another picture of the same area burned up in another fire.  Houses are nothing more than fuel waiting for a fire to recycle them.  One can, and should, take steps to defend them if one is going to live in such dangerous areas.

Doug

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7 minutes ago, Doug1o29 said:

These mudslides happen near the burn.  The area is only subject to them for one, or possible twy, seasons, by which time grass, weeds and sprouting bushes grow up and re-anchor the hillsides.- fuel for the next fire.

One should not build a house in such areas to begin with.  You can tell where the landslide and mudflow deposits are by looking at the ground.  Building a house where there has been a mudflow is asking to get it swept away in the next one.

I once saw a series of photos taken from a photopoint - a place where a photo is taken every year, looking in the same direction.  This is used to assess changes in vegetation.  The one I am thinking of was established in the 1930s following a major fire in southern California.  The first picture shows a moonscape of burned trees and the remains of houses.  Over the ensuing years, the forest returns, as do the houses.  The series ended with another picture of the same area burned up in another fire.  Houses are nothing more than fuel waiting for a fire to recycle them.  One can, and should, take steps to defend them if one is going to live in such dangerous areas.

Doug

I understand what u r saying

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Latest:

Quote

Rescue teams continued combing the ruins of Montecito on Thursday amid dwindling hope of finding more survivors from the debris and mud flows that engulfed the California town earlier this week.

The teams had scoured about three-quarters of the debris field left by an avalanche of mud and rock which killed 17 people, destroyed more than 100 homes and damaged 400 more.

Eight people are missing. A clerical error earlier on Thursday briefly inflated that to 48 before it was corrected.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jan/11/california-mudslide-hope-fades-for-survivors-after-deadly-disaster

 

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1 hour ago, Doug1o29 said:

Mud slides following fires happens every year in the west.  One wonders why those people didn't prepare, or at least, get out of the way.

 

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It’s unclear how many people would have heeded an emergency evacuation order had it been issued earlier in Montecito. Numerous residents said they knew about the mudslide risk from warnings but decided to stay in their homes anyway. Some said that after fleeing from fire in December, they doubted the rains would pose much of a risk.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-evacuations-montecito-20180110-story.html

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20 hours ago, Still Waters said:

 

I would not issue an evacuation order unless I knew a slide was imminant.  I would issue an advisory that there was a hazard, but until the rain started falling, I would not make it mandatory.

Doug

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