One of the many ways California is becoming a Desert more is because of 20 years of droughts. However, I have observed specifically what is happening in Santa Barbara because my wife and I have many friends there in that area. And one of our friends who lives there had to evacuate into a family home in the area and during this time (during the Montecito fire and flash flooding) one of the consequences is many people died (both directly and indirectly from the fire and flash flooding).
So, it is in understanding how dirt and rocks and trees and brush hold the soil and rocks of all the coastal range in Southern California. And then when they are burned too close to a rainy season, all that then creates liquefaction or better said liquid that contains mud, rocks, boulders coming down hills and through houses like what happened in Montecito which seems to be the future for a lot of places possibly like Paradise as well as other locations in southern California when the rains come this week (if they actually come).
We need the rains. But, some people are always killed by the rains whenever they come after big fires here in California. So, rains help most and kill some whenever they arrive in California if they come as hard as they usually do. We are one of the few places in the U.S. where it is normal for us to receive up to 16 inches of rain in 3 days time in some rain storms.
And because we have elevations from well over 14,000 feet all the way down to sea level and even below sea level in places like Death Valley, this often creates death and mayhem for some people when this happens. So, surviving California is learning how to survive these situations in real time in your life wherever you are in California when rain happens. Snow can be a problem too, but mostly that is at the higher elevations above 3500 to 6000 feet in California. But, if you are camping remotely and you don't check your smart phone or car radio this can get really serious quickly especially for people who are generally suburban or urban people not trained for snow or weather of any kind, generally speaking beyond light rain.
I myself, have come close to dying more than once as a young person from a blizzard whiteout, unexpected hail or snows at higher elevations even in August above 8000 feet in elevation.
This is also something people might not expect in California. It can snow or hail any time of year if you are above 6000 to 8000 feet here in California without warning. I have been in shorts and a T-Shirt with my family and had to hide in August at around 8000 feet under a tree with my family so we wouldn't be injured by heavy large hail. Luckily the branches and pine needles and fir needles protected me and my family from harm. But, even then it went suddenly from about 80 to 90 degrees to below freezing with hail within 10 minutes time. So, wherever you are in California above 6000 to 8000 feet or higher it's a good idea to at least have a wind breaker with a hood in your backpack for emergencies like these in the back country or anywhere above 6000 feet.
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