California and Our Unusually Natural Disasters

A ferocious fire has been blazing on Catalina Island of the coast of California!  What is the deal with California and our natural disasters?  If it’s not fires, it’s floods and mud-slides.  As if the prices of homes and condos are not enough in California, people also have to worry about their house getting caught in a rapidly spreading brush fire and sliding down the hill due to rain and flooding!  The fire on Catalina Island is yet another example of fire destroying precious real estate, both commercial and residential.  Luckily, our client Mitchell Development, was not effected by the fire.  Their community, Vista Glenar which is a beautiful mix of condos and townhomes with prices over $1.3 million, was left unharmed. 

500 firefighters and ten helicopters have been dispatched to aid the fight against the still blazing fire on the island.  58 firefighting vehicles were transported to Catalina Island by our beloved US Navy who made multiple trips using a hovercraft deployed from Camp Pendleton last night.  The flames are still present though the fire seems to be fairly under control at this point.  The fire began yesterday at about 12:30 PM northwest of Avalon and just east of the Catalina airport.  The fire reached the edges of Avalon yesterday so many people were advised to water down their roofs as a preventative measure.  Avalon, which is a historic town with a population of about 3,200 people, has many old and cherished homes and buildings.  Avalon is a huge tourist destination and boasts weekend populations of about 10,000 people.  According to the Los Angeles County Fire Department, Avalon was never under a severe threat.   Fortunately only about ten buildings were destroyed by the fire including only one home.  Over 3,000 people were actually evacuated from the island. 

I actually had to be evacuated from Catalina Island when I was young due to severe food poisoning, but that is a whole other story! Evacuees arrived in ferries in Long Beach, where they were initially being sent to a Red Cross reception center and then later bused to an overnight shelter set up at Cabrillo High School. Luckily, as far as damage goes, this was fairly mild compared to some of our natural disasters here in California.  Since I moved here about seven years ago, we have had multiple major fires that have destroyed hundreds of homes and condos.  Actually, one of our clients had a large condominium development here in San Diego consumed by flames…what a mess!  San Diego condos are hot…but I didn’t realize they were that hot.

A couple years ago the rain caused flooding and hillsides to erode.  Of course, due to the terrain here in California, we have many homes built on the edges of hills.  Many of those homes end up at the bottom of a ravine after heavy rain.  It doesn’t rain much here so the ground does not absorb the moisture causing flooding problems.  Some areas have been through the fires and flooding so many times that it has become a terrible routine!  

In Laguna Beach a few years ago the same problem happened where numerous multi-million dollar homes slid down the sides of hills.  Obviously, this kind of damage is unrecoverable and people have to move having lost most of their personal possessions. 

Unfortunately, California isn’t the only place being hit with floods and fires.  Elsewhere around the country, firefighters recently battled yet another Georgia wild fire that burned more than 100,000 acres.  About 570 homes were evacuated overnight due to the rapid spreading of the flames.

In Minnesota, a wildfire that has already destroyed 45 structures threatened about 200 more structures and closed half of the 57-mile Gunflint Trail.  The fire has burned about 45 square miles since it started Saturday at a campsite on remote Ham Lake. No injuries have been reported.

In Maryland, a fast-moving fire, whipped by high winds, consumed a large warehouse on the Eastern Shore that served as a food processing plant during both world wars.