When this happens everything around you changes and you have to adapt to whatever is happening then.
The most dangerous places are around hilly or mountainous areas with large changes of altitude in those areas and where mountains meet deserts. When you get large amounts of rain in a short amount of time the water has nowhere to go but down and the more water that is coming down the more water and mud and rocks are likely to move, especially if fire has burned up foliage and root systems underground. This is when people are likely to die from water, rock and mudslides like they did in Montecito in 2018.
Today the problem is centered for now around the Dixie Fire which was a really huge fire that burned for months. With today and tomorrows rainfall this could endanger many lives in various ways both in expected ways and in completely unexpected ways as well.
My one experience of almost dying in a flash flood is where the Mountains of Big Bear in Southern California meet the desert near Yucca Valley and Pioneertown which was a filming area for early cowboy Western movies in the 20s to 40s. I was driving on a paved road in these areas and suddenly I saw a wall of water coming towards me fast. Luckily, I was in a very fast car which was a 1968 Camaro with lots of power.
So, before the water hit my car and I was floating sideways across the desert to who knows where I burned rubber to spin my car around quickly and drove away as fast as I could drive to avoid being swept across the desert by this wall of water coming out of the mountains.
This is my one experience where I realized if I didn't do something I likely wouldn't survive that moment.
Luckily I was on a paved road so I could drive fast enough right then to get away from the wall of water bearing down upon me.
Many people today likely are going to face this sort of thing in Northern California unexpectedly or already have today or tomorrow. I hope they all survive the day like I did when I had to face this myself alone.
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