Mudslides Could Be In The Forecast For Camp Fire Evacuees

Published on November 21, 2018 07:54 PM in Safe Driving

Heavy rain is forecasted in Northern California, where a wildfire torched more than 150,000 acres. Meteorologists suggest some recently scorched areas could receive as much as half an inch of rain an hour, and officials are concerned this could cause mudslides.

"The material that we're dealing with it's heavily ash and soot, and when the water touches that, it kinda turns to sediment, almost like soil again," federal search-and-rescue team member Brian Ferreira told CBS News.

Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said the threat of mudslides would threaten a community that's already at-risk.

"It is the potential of dealing with one disaster and having something else pile on top of us," Honea said.

Cal Fire, the agency in charge of combating the Camp Fire in Butte County, offered the following statistics Friday morning.

153,336 acres burned
81 deaths confirmed
870 unaccounted for
18,421 structures destroyed (13,778 homes, 514 commercial structures and 4,129 other buildings)

"This is certainly one of the worst fires in California history, and it's the most destruction I've ever seen in my career," Cal Fire Operations Chief Josh Bischoff said.