Mudslide danger ⚠ replaces fire threat 🔥 in Southern California❗*

*Mudslide danger ⚠ replaces fire threat 🔥 in Southern California❗*

The frightening hiss and crackle of the massive Thomas Fire in Southern California has been replaced by the loud droning of heavy equipment below the burn area.

Public work crews in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties are frantically clearing out every debris basin and storm drain possible, because the fire has left behind another threat -- mudslides.

If it does rain hard, authorities would use K-rail barriers, sandbags or wooden plank fencing to keep water and debris away, and to divert the flow, said Jim O'Toussa, a geologist with the Ventura County Public Works Agency.

"We can also, depending on site characteristics, use large rocks in a series of check dams -- low mounds of large rock in channels -- to reduce (floodwater) velocity, thereby reducing erosion and storing some eroded material," O'Toussa said.

: