KERN RIVER VALLEY, Calif. (KERO) — A light but consistent rain has come to the Kern River Valley on November 25 into the 26.
- First respinders are keeping their eyes on areas with burn scarred land.
- The rain could lead to a fuller North Fork of the Kern River.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Early on Monday the streets of Kernville were filled with water due to hours of a steady, light rain.
“So Currently NOAA has forecasted a spike in river flows up to 5,000 CFS,” said President of the Kern River Conservancy Gary Ananian.
Ananian is talking about the North Fork of the Kern River - which runs through Kernville. He says if rain in the high country persists, the flows of the river will be impacted.
“The forecast for the peak of 5,000 is not until Wednesday, so we still have two more days ahead of us, so we have two more days of rain to come.”
Rain is forecasting to continue through Monday night into Tuesday.
On the other side of the valley, near Havilah and Walker Basin, first responders are keeping an eye on areas near burn scar – with sandbag distributions going on for the past week
“Throughout Kern County, anywhere we have a fire that has burned through, and there's a lack of vegetation, now we have an issue where you can possibly have, because of the rainfall, you can start to see sediment of the debris that flows down hill. That’s something that we are monitoring very closely,” said Captain Andrew Freeborn, Public Information Officer for the Kern County Fire Department.
Freeborn notes rain can bring flooding and debris flows – but not all rain is a bad thing.
“Weather that comes through, and we’re giving rainfall but it’s a small amount over a large amount of time, that’s what we’re wanting, we want it to get saturated, but slowly. If we see a significant amount of rainfall or rainfall isolated over a short period of time, then we could start to see some of those things that were mentioned in the debris flows, mudslides, that kind of thing.”
Stay in Touch with Us Anytime, Anywhere:
