SAN BERNARDINO, CALIF. Residents fortify homes for future

A state agency warned residents about future dangers as they did inspections.
LOS ANGELES TIMES
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. -- While Southern California was spared from heavy downpours forecast for Tuesday, a handful of San Bernardino County residents whose properties were declared a potential "high risk" for deadly floods and mudslides scrambled to fortify their homes before other rainstorms sweep through in the weeks ahead.
Two of the 15 people killed in slides triggered by a Christmas Day storm were washed away from a KOA campsite in Devore that the California Geological Survey had identified as a "high risk" area for loss of life and property.
Residents at six other high-risk properties in Lytle Creek and Northwest San Bernardino said authorities had warned them of the danger. But the residents said the warnings seemed casual and that there was no recommendation to evacuate.
"I gotta tell you [the warning] was pretty low-key," said Cathy Smith, a resident and employee at Bonita Ranch RV Campground, located at the foot of a steep, bare hillside in Lytle Creek that was blackened by wildfires in October and November.
Despite the break in the weather, weary search crews did not resume the search for the body of 12-year-old Edgar David Mesa, the last unaccounted-for member of a group of family and friends who had gathered for a Christmas celebration at the St. Sophia Camp in Waterman Canyon. Fourteen people were swept away when an avalanche of mud, boulders and logs swept through the camp.
Areas of risk
As much as 3 inches of rain had been forecast for the mountains Tuesday, but the showers missed the flood-ravaged areas, said Ryan Kittell, a National Weather Service specialist.
After the Old and Grand Prix wildfires ravaged the San Bernardino foothills and mountain areas, the California Geological Survey and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection surveyed the charred areas and nearby communities and found 28 locations that faced at least some risk to life or property -- in floods or mudslides -- when rain hit the area.
Most of the locations facing the highest risk sit below steep, denuded slopes studded with loose rocks. Some of the homes were located at the openings of well-developed alluvial fans, meaning water would be funneled into the homes. Only a few of the properties had protections from sliding mud.
Warnings of danger
Although the officials with the state geological survey are not obligated to warn property owners and has no enforcement power, agency staff told residents about the danger whenever they found people at home during the inspections. The staff also wrote letters to residents at all 28 properties facing a risk of damage, even if the risk was considered low.
"I couldn't sleep at night if someone was killed because I did not give warning when I saw a problem," said Tom Spittler, a senior engineering geologist with the California Geology Survey, who oversaw the reports.
The state is required only to send the reports to the Redland field office of the Natural Resources Conservation Service, a part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Spittler doesn't know how many residents took his advice. The state is planning to send a staff member back to San Bernardino County to check.
As the state workers were doing post-fire inspections in November, employees of the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service were revisiting some of the state's sites and finding other danger zones. Whenever service staff visited a site, they recommended where to place sandbags, which windows to board up and how to direct water in a safe fashion, said District Conservationist Jim Earsom.