If you’ve spent lockdown binging on a 90s disaster movie, lava is probably ours on the road or fissures are open on the ground, you’re going to like it.
Arizona officials have shared a video of a dark, steamy river that looks like a current is receding in Pima County. Many of us have been asking over the past few months, with captions: “Whose was it on the 2020 hellscape Bingo Card?” The video, which Pima County officials posted on its social media channels, was taken on July 15 after a “slight storm” on the North County Line’s sewage channel Cañada del Oro Wash. This ominous appearance, the fast-moving dark mass in this region is a flash flood of mud and debris after the fire. This may sound great in a mysterious way, but the video was shared with the hashtag #FloodsFollowFires to show how fast flooding can happen and how fast it can go.
Officials wrote on Facebook, “This video was taken Wednesday, July 2020, at Cañada del Oro Wash on the North County Line after a slight storm.“Even light rain can often cause devastating flash floods and mudflows with a little caution.”
Wildfires actually increase the risk of flash floods because of the nature of the land, being dry and unable to absorb water. This means that even light rain can trigger destructive flooding and mudflows, which not only accelerate, but also pick up debris – silt, rocks, and even trees, causing potential damage and destruction wherever the flow takes over. Until the soil is restored and the plants grow backwards, these runoffs can occur year after year.
Probably since June 5, this flash flood has been caused by a raging fire burning on the western edge of the Santa Catalina Mountains north of Tucson, Arizona.
Named after the local disturbed sheep, the blaze now moves southeast, towards the Catalina foothills. It is thought to have been caused by lightning, which has so far burned 48,377 hectares (119,541 acres) but is now largely contained.
Debris after a fire can destabilize and erode land, roads, roads, and any other way it flows, so don’t take your own shaky camera footage in the hopes of acting out your own disaster in the movie, it can be a bit real Couldn’t save you.
