Mudslide fears in fire-hit areas

2008-07-15 09:32

California - Officials urged residents in low-lying areas near a lakeside community to leave on Monday because of danger from mudslides and flash floods near wildfire-scarred land.

The recommendation came as thunderstorms developed across the region. It was the third time in three days that the warning was issued for about 80 homes in the area.

"We're picking up moist air from the Gulf of Mexico and with our daytime temperatures, that's creating convective instability," said Bonnie Bartling, a specialist for the National Weather Service.

In the burn area in Kern County, heavy rain caused flows of water and mud, said Dee Hines, spokesperson for firefighters battling a blaze south of Lake Isabella, about 145km north of Los Angeles.

The National Weather Service also issued a flash flood watch for most mountains in Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles counties.

More than 50 homes were damaged late on Saturday by a mudslide in the town of Independence below the eastern flank of the Sierra, some 320km north of Los Angeles.

On the Arizona-Mexico border, the bodies of two men caught in high water in a wash were retrieved on Monday.

They were probably Mexican citizens trapped in the floodwaters that flow from south to north near the border, said William Ybarra, police chief in Nogales, Arizona.

- AP