First fire, then potential flood: Mother Nature takes 2nd swipe at some areas

Santa Rosa, Calif. - Rain moving in Saturday night is just the beginning of a storm expected to bring intense rainfall across the Bay Area. First responders are worried areas with burn scars could break loose, sending debris flowing down hills.

In Santa Rosa, valley floors are expected to see 4-6 inches of rain in a 12-16 hour period, but higher elevations could see even more.

"The hills are primarily where our burn scars are, and that’s what the concern is now," said Paul Lowenthal, the Santa Rosa Fire Department’s Assistant Fire Marshall.

Lowenthal said while the lower elevations might see some localized flooding, residents in the hills have the potential to see more dangerous conditions. He said there are more than 1,000 homes that were impacted by the Glass Fire last year, and now all those homes are near the burn scar area. 

"The soil is essentially almost crusted over based on the intensity of the burning. Water isn’t able to penetrate it as easily and it does tend to run across the surface. And then when you get large amounts of water running across the surface, at some point it can only tolerate so much and it breaks loose," said Lowenthal. 

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He said the city has been doing a lot of outreach over the last few years to make sure residents in and around burn scars know how to prepare for a big rain event.

"Just two weeks ago we were asking people to clear their roof gutters for potential fire weather. We’re asking people to clear those same gutters, not just on their roofs, but in their yards, so the water can go where we want it to go," said Lowenthal.

Intense rain is just one of the concerns with this weekend's storm. High winds are also expected, which will likely topple trees and cut off power in some areas. 

In a press release, PG&E said it has thousands of workers standing by to respond to potential widespread power outages. PG&E vegetation management crews were out Saturday working to keep trees away from powerlines. 

After a fire season where Lowenthal said the North Bay "dodged a bullet," he was glad to see a little rain to help with the drought. But this storm is expected to bring too much rain in such a short amount of time to be helpful. 

"Rain is a welcome sight, it’s what we want to see. We just don’t want large storms like this. Hopefully, it moves through and doesn’t stall out and cause additional issues locally," said Lowenthal.