The mud cascaded down scorched, blackened slopes still blanketed with ash. With no trees or vegetation to slow the surge it swept rocks and boulders from the Verdugo mountains into a thunderous river.
Swaths of southern California are in need after nature’s latest battering, this time in the form of heavy rains which unleashed massive debris flows, a grim sequel to a record drought and record wildfires.
At least 20 people died, mostly in Montecito, a wealthy enclave north-west of LA. The avalanche buried homes and swept others from their foundations, which in addition to the dead left at least 25 people injured, 24 missing and hundreds marooned, authorities said.
Photo: Reuters
照片:路透社
The storm — the first of the rainy season — turned devastating because huge wildfires in recent months charred mountains and canyons, leaving soil unable to efficiently absorb water.
California has just endured its worst and most expensive wildfire season. The Thomas fire, which encompassed the land around Montecito, burned more than 280,000 acres, the biggest in the state’s modern history.
This followed a five-year-drought — by some measures the worst in a millennium — which emptied reservoirs and parched the countryside.
Photo: AP
照片:美聯社
It ended in 2016 with record rainfall that counterintuitively aggravated last year’s fire season by producing vegetation – fuel. It turned tinder dry last summer, the hottest on record.
So many records in so short a time has convinced many scientists that climate change is a factor.
Elizabeth Terry, 63, who lives in the Verdugo mountains, has had to evacuate three times: A wildfire in 2016, another in 2017, then last week’s mudslides.
“California is a wonderful place to live — depending where you live,” she said, speaking from a Red Cross evacuation centre. Terry can’t afford to live in a safer area. “Lord knows I’m trying to move, desperately.”
(The Guardian)
泥漿像瀑布般從已燒黑、仍被灰燼覆蓋著的山坡流下,所經之地沒有樹木或植被來減緩流速,泥漿席捲維度戈山上的石塊和巨岩,將其掃入轟隆隆的河流中。
大自然又再度重創南加州大片地區,這次是以暴雨的形式,造成大量的土石流,亟待救援,這是創紀錄的乾旱和創紀錄的野外大火所共同造成的嚴峻後果。
至少已有二十人死亡,大多是在洛杉磯西北面的豪宅區蒙特西托。當局表示,山崩掩埋了住宅,沖刷其他房屋,將其從地基拔起。除了死亡人數,另外造成至少二十五人受傷、二十四人失蹤,數百人孤立無援。
由於幾個月來的巨大的野火燒焦了山脈和峽谷,使土壤無法有效吸收水分,因而使得雨季的第一個暴風雨變成了毀滅性的。
加州才經歷了最嚴重、代價最高的野火季節—燒毀蒙特西托周圍逾二十八萬英畝土地的「托馬斯大火」,已成為加州史上最大的野火火災。
在這之前是一場持續五年的乾旱—某些測量結果認為這是千年來最嚴重的—使得水庫枯竭、鄉間都烤乾了。
二○一六年創紀錄的降雨量結束了這場乾旱。但出乎意料地,這降雨反而使去年的野火季節災情更加慘重,因雨水讓更多植物生長出來,變成火災的燃料。去年夏天破紀錄的高溫,把這些植被曬乾成了易燃的火絨。
如此短的時間內破了如此多的紀錄,使得許多科學家相信,氣候變化是其背後的原因。
六十三歲的伊麗莎白‧泰瑞住在維度戈山區,已經被迫撤離了三次:二○一六年的野火、二○一七年又一場野火,然後是上週的土石流。
泰瑞在紅十字會的疏散中心說道:「加州是很棒的居所—但要看你是住在哪裡」。要住在更安全的地區,泰瑞負擔不起,「天知道我多麼想要搬家。」
(台北時報林俐凱編譯)
DID YOU KNOW?
你知道嗎?
A mudslide (or mudflow) is a form of mass wasting involving very rapid surging flow of debris that has become partially or fully liquified by the addition of significant amounts of water to the source material.
Areas at risk:
The area most generally recognized as being at risk of a dangerous mudflow are:
‧ Areas where wildfires or human modification of the land have destroyed
vegetation
‧ Areas where landslides have occurred before
‧ Steep slopes and areas at the bottom of slopes or canyons
土石流(或稱泥流)是一種崩壞作用,是在山區或其他地形險峻的地區,因暴雨等自然災害,使泥土、石頭等與大量的水混合,沿著斜坡或山溝快速滑下的現象。
易發生土石流的地區為:
‧ 植被已被野火或人為改變破壞的地區
‧ 曾發生過山崩的地區
‧ 陡峭的山坡和山坡或峽谷底部的區域
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