MSN_012419

4 | January 24, 2019 | Malibu surfside news news
malibusurfsidenews.com
History unrepeated in latest post-fire storms
Suzanne Guldimann
Freelance Reporter
Residents in Malibu
and the surrounding areas
within the Woolsey
Fire burn zone braced for
more disaster, as a series
of back-to-back storms arrived
last week.
Fortunately for fire survivors,
the jet stream that
brought the recent week
of wet weather was not as
strong as it has been in other
years, and the burn scar
mudflows many feared did
not occur. Not yet, at least.
The round of storms,
however, generated rock
slides that injured two and
shut down three major canyon
roads. Topanga Canyon
Boulevard remained
closed when the Malibu
Surfside News went to
press.
A California Department
of Transportation District
7 crew working Thursday,
Jan. 17, to clear Topanga
Canyon Boulevard
narrowly avoided being
crushed by a fresh fall
of boulders, and several
of their vehicles were
damaged.
A motorist on Malibu
Canyon Road was less
fortunate. A large boulder
struck the driver’s side rear
door of her vehicle on Jan.
16. She reportedly was
hospitalized with injuries.
On Jan. 17, a walker in
the Rambla Pacifico area
also was struck by a falling
boulder and was in critical
condition.
The series of storms
filled creeks to overflowing
and reactivated watercourses
that haven’t flowed
in several years, turning
rivulets into streams,
and streams into roaring,
muddy torrents. Localized
mudflows were reported
in some of the neighborhoods
hardest hit by the
Woolsey Fire, including
Malibu Park, and many of
the smaller mountain roads
were impacted, including
Stunt Road, where a boulder
shut down both lanes,
and Mullolland Highway,
were mud flowed across
the road in several locations.
The rain, however,
was not intense enough to
trigger a major mudslide
or debris flow in any of the
areas where precautionary
Crews stand by at an area of concern south in the Leo Carrillo/Nicholas Canyon area
on Tuesday morning. Suzy Demeter/22nd Century Media
evacuations took place.
Author Mark Davis,
in his controversial book
“Ecology of Fear: Los Angeles
and the Imagination
of Disaster,” described
the jet stream that lines up
multiple storms and sends
them down the coast in
succession as “sometimes
producing rainfall of a ferocity
unrivaled anywhere
on earth, even in the tropical
monsoon belts.”
Malibu has experienced
the kind of deluge Davis
described on several occasions.
In 1998, Malibu
received 14 inches of rain
just in the month of February;
in 1983, the “Great
El Niño Year,” the area received
more than 34 inches
of rain; and during the
winter of 2004-5, a total of
37.25 inches of rain were
recorded.
Mudslides in the winter
of 1979-80 followed the
1978 Kanan Dume fire. The
infamous rockslide on Pacific
Coast Highway near
Big Rock grabbed headlines
that winter, because
the road was swamped by
tons of boulders and mud
and closed for months, but
mudflows also happened
in the burn area, spreading
across PCH near Encinal
Canyon, and causing localized
damage in neighborhoods
like Broad Beach,
where many houses were
destroyed by the fire just
months earlier.
Flash floods also tore
through Topanga Canyon
that winter, carrying away
houses, cars, trees, boulders,
a school bus, and
two large sections of the
canyon road. Some of the
intensity of that flood was
blamed on damage caused
six years earlier by the
1973 Trippet Fire, which
burned nearly 3,000 acres
in Topanga, stripping hillsides
of vegetation and
leaving the area vulnerable
to mudslides for years after
the fire.
In the winter of 1995,
two years after the devastating
Old Topanga Fire in
1993, heavy rains flooded
Malibu Creek, seriously
Please see storms, 7
Malibu Emergency Relief Fund to cease operations
With fire funds
nearly depleted,
Boys and Girls Club
shares update
Staff Report
The Malibu Emergency
Relief Fund, founded in
November and operated
by the Boys and Girls
Club of Malibu, is no
longer accepting applications.
As of Friday, Jan. 18,
the club shared that it
had distributed all but
$279,806.31 of the funding
to 480 individuals
and families in need following
the Woolsey Fire.
The amount given to date
was roughly $1.22 million
out of around $1.5
million.
The BGC said remaining
funds would be dispersed
among applicants
who have already applied
for relief.
“We thank our beloved
community for entrusting
us with this duty; it’s been
an honor to serve Malibu
during this difficult time,”
the club’s statement said.
“Crisis counseling continues
to be available at the
Teen Center for Malibu
students affected by the
Woolsey Fire. We thank
you for your support as we
return to our regular club
operations. We would also
like to give a big thank you
to everyone who donated
to our community through
monetary and in-kind donations.
We could not have
done this without all of
your kindness!”
The Malibu Emergency
Relief fund was to officially
cease its operations as of
Tuesday, Jan. 22.
“The BGCM is working
with Certified Public
Accountants Guzman &
Gray, whom is performing
ongoing audits of the
fund, from inception to
completion: the application
and distribution process,
bank accounts and
assurance of the proper use
of funds within the guidelines
of the fund establishment,”
the club’s statement
said. “These audits will be
shared with the public.”