Foresthill warned of possible mudlsides as Hilary moves through Sierra
FORESTHILL — The people in the community of Foresthill have lived through wildfires and snowmageddons just in the past year, and now the National Weather Service is warning them about mudslides as Tropical Storm Hilary continues moving north through California.
Lewis Riley and his dog Charlie are no strangers to extreme weather. Their home is still standing, although last year's Mosquito wildfire forced them to evacuate, burning right through their neighborhood.
"We watched the fire come across the road, over the property across the street and go roaring up around our house here," Riley said.
Now, the National Weather Service is warning homeowners like Riley and anyone who lives in the Mosquito and Caldor burn scars to beware of flooding and debris flows.
Riley is not worried.
"With the ground cover, we're not as concerned," Riley said.
The weird weather remnants of Tropical Storm Hilary in this area are not extreme. Still, California's Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) is not ruling out dangerous impacts.
"Just a small amount of water on this terrain can really turn into a mudslide quickly, not a flash flood like you saw in the south but still dangerous as that changes the composition of the soil," Cal OES spokesperson Brian Ferguson said.
The Cal OES operations center is tracking the Hilary impacts and the rain all across the state.
Riley lives at the base of a burn scar. He's heard the concerns and is not convinced.
"When these alerts are coming, like heavy rains, we don't get too concerned about it. We don't get too concerned when it's the heavy snows coming, ah fire, yeah," Riley said.
Ferguson said it will be good for these burn scar communities to stay on alert for several days after this wet weather. That's how long it could take for rain to saturate the burn scar soil and cause problems.