What triggered deadly debris flows in California?
- 6 years ago
MONTECITO, CALIFORNIA — More than a dozen are dead after a torrent of mud and debris swept through California's Santa Barbara County last week.
The Ventura County Star reports that this deadly and shockingly common occurrence is called a "debris flow," though it's also commonly called a mudslide.
Often at risk for debris flows are mountainous areas that have been ravaged by wildfire. Fire kills vegetation and nutrients in the soil, causing it to become hydrophobic or water-repellant.
During intense rainfall, water that would normally be absorbed into the ground instead saturates it and causes the earth to liquefy into a flowing river of mud.
Debris flows grow in size as they pick up boulders, trees, and other debris, and are powerful enough to uproot or destroy entire neighborhoods.
Many of the deaths in Montecito reportedly occurred while most residents were asleep, after heavy rain fell in a short period of time around 3:30 a.m.
The Ventura County Star reports that this deadly and shockingly common occurrence is called a "debris flow," though it's also commonly called a mudslide.
Often at risk for debris flows are mountainous areas that have been ravaged by wildfire. Fire kills vegetation and nutrients in the soil, causing it to become hydrophobic or water-repellant.
During intense rainfall, water that would normally be absorbed into the ground instead saturates it and causes the earth to liquefy into a flowing river of mud.
Debris flows grow in size as they pick up boulders, trees, and other debris, and are powerful enough to uproot or destroy entire neighborhoods.
Many of the deaths in Montecito reportedly occurred while most residents were asleep, after heavy rain fell in a short period of time around 3:30 a.m.