‘Starting to look a lot better’: Rain aids Mosquito fire battle, but brings flood, mudflow risk to region
With heavy rain expected across the region through the weekend, meteorologists are warning the area could see a repeat of the devastating fire that wreaked havoc at Camp Fire this spring.
The Associated Press reports:
With rain on the way Saturday and Sunday, San Diego County Fire-Rescue officials are still trying to determine whether rainfall will be enough to help firefighters fight a blaze that has destroyed dozens of structures and forced thousands to flee their homes.
In the aftermath of Camp Fire, officials on Thursday warned it would be difficult to predict if the rain would make the situation on the ground worse, and are asking people not to travel until the question of whether the rain will help or hinder firefighting efforts is answered.
The National Weather Service said conditions could be drier and cooler with a 70 percent chance of rain Saturday, followed by a 60 percent chance for a chance on Sunday. But there’s a 40 percent chance it will be cloudy on Saturday, according to the weather service.
The forecast for the weekend remains very similar to that for the next seven days, the National Weather Service said.
In a statement to the San Diego Union-Tribune on Friday, the weather service said the latest forecast calls for a “medium to heavy” amount of rain across the area over the next two days, “with the heaviest precipitation” on Saturday. But rain won’t be enough to stop the fire from spreading, and rainfall will also cause flooding, mudflow and power outages because of the rapid melting of snow and ice under heavy rain and wind, the weather service said.
“If there’s a lot of water in there, it can wash it right up the street and out of the neighborhood,” San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore said at a Friday morning news conference.
The rain could be especially dangerous after fires in northern Chile on Tuesday and Wednesday that destroyed whole villages and left hundreds of thousands homeless.
Gore said he believes firetrucks will “pull into” the neighborhood Saturday under the rain “because it’s just going to flood the streets.” He said he also believes that the rain from the storms is likely to cause additional flooding.
“The question is whether we