Rescuers searched for a person missing in a mudslide on Tuesday after flash floods swept dirt, rocks and trees down fire-scarred slopes, washed away cars and buried buildings in small mountain communities in southern California.
With thunderstorms forecast and more mudslides possible into Wednesday, evacuation orders remained in place in parts of the San Bernardino Mountains while a wildfire raging 500 miles (805 km) to the north forced residents to abandon their homes.
The Mosquito fire burning 110 miles (177 km) north-east of San Francisco erupted in the afternoon just hours after officials had reported making “great strides” in the battle.
“We have all hands on deck,” fire spokesperson Chris Valenzuela said as the fire burned in Foresthill. “It’s burning very erratic and intensely.”
The blaze was one of three large fires in the state.
The mudslides hit a mountainous region east of Los Angeles that was scorched by a wildfire two years ago. Multiple homes and other structures saw varying degrees of destruction, officials said, including a commercial building where the mud was so high it collapsed the roof.
Rocks, dead trees and other debris surged down slopes and across roads with astonishing force in the towns of Forest Falls, Oak Glen and Yucaipa.
Eric Sherwin, spokesperson for the San Bernardino county fire department, said crews were searching for one missing person. Concerns about mudflows on Monday had prompted evacuation orders for about 2,000 homes in the San Bernardino Mountains.
Homes and other buildings were damaged, including a commercial building buried so high its roof collapsed, said Sherwin, asbig yellow tractors plowed through dark, thick sludge and pushed boulders off roads.
“We have boulders that moved through that weigh multiple tons,” Sherwin said. “It could take days just to find all the cars that are missing because they are completely covered by mud.”
Firefighters went street by street in the community of Forest Falls on Monday night to make sure no residents were trapped.
Video on social media from Oak Glen showed a torrent of mud racing down a hillside, across a road and into a restaurant parking lot.
Perla Halbert had been out of town and returned to her Oak Glen home late on Monday to find the driveway covered with several inches of mud. Her family stayed the night with family members and returned after first light to discover several feet of mud and a fence washed away.
“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” Halbert said. “If you try and take two steps, you get submerged. You just get stuck.”
The rains were the remnants of a tropical storm that brought high winds and some badly needed rainfall to drought-stricken southern California last week, helping firefighters largely corral a wildfire that had been burning out of control about 20 miles (32 km) south of the mudslides.
The mud flows and flash flooding occurred in parts of the San Bernardino Mountains hit by wildfires in 2020, creating what’s known as a “burn scar” that has little vegetation to hold the soil, making them susceptible to land and mudslides.
“All of that dirt turns to mud and starts slipping down the mountain,” Sherwin said.
For some homes in Forest Falls, it was too late to evacuate and residents were told to shelter in place through the night because it was safer than venturing out.
The mudslides came after a week of extreme weather patterns in California. The state endured a record-long heatwave, with temperatures in many regions rocketing past 100F (38C).
Amid the extreme heat, several wildfires broke out, including the Fairview fire in southern California and the Mosquite fire burning east of Sacramento.
Then, a tropical storm hit parts of the south of the state.
While the remnants of tropical storm Kay have aided fire crews, multiple blazes are still burning including the the Fairview fire, which was at 44 sq miles (114 sq km) and 56% contained by late Monday, and the Mosquito fire, which has has grown to 76 sq miles, with 16% containment, according to the California department of forestry and fire protection (CalFire).
Smoky skies from wildfires in many areas of the west caused air quality to deteriorate on Monday, with dangerous levels of particulate pollution detected by government and private monitors in portions of eastern Oregon and Washington, northern California, central Idaho and western Montana. In some areas, people were told to avoid all outdoor activity until the pollution cleared.
In Washington, fire officials scrambled to secure resources for a blaze sparked on Saturday in the remote Stevens Pass area that sent hikers fleeing and forced evacuations of mountain communities. As of Monday, the Bolt Creek fire was 2% contained and had scorched nearly 12 sq miles of forestland about 65 miles north-east of Seattle. A larger incident management team and additional fire crews were slated to arrive on Tuesday, officials said.
In Oregon, utility companies said on Monday they restored power to tens of thousands of customers after shutting down service over the weekend to try to prevent wildfires during high winds, low humidity and hot temperatures.
South of Portland, evacuation levels were reduced near the 135-sq-mile Cedar Creek fire, which has burned for over a month across Lane and Deschutes counties.
