Mudslide Risk In King Fire Burn Area Has U.S. Forest Service Working To Stormproof Region

EL DORADO NATIONAL FOREST (CBS13) — The strong storm rolling into Northern California will bring a major risk of mudslides in the Sierra, keeping the U.S. Forest Service at the King Fire site busy.

Contractors worked to stormproof the El Dorado National Forest where the land is fragile after this summer's King Fire.

Forest service soil scientists Eric Nicita showed CBS13 a debris flow cleaned up from last week's storms.

"Entering the fire area is extremely dangerous. there is going to be debris flows. there's gonna be falling trees. there's gonna be rock fall," he said.

A dirt berm now sits at the bottom of the steep slope to slow down anything else that might slide into the road and into the American River below.

"It's an important road for SMUD, it's an important road for the forest service, and it's an important road for the public," he said.

Protecting is cheaper than repairing—a washout would cost $2 million per mile to repair the road.

Forest service engineer Barrett McMurtry says his crews have been working around the clock, putting up structures to keep the culverts clear and redigging old drainage ditches.

Choppers dropped mulch over the land to cut the erosion risk two weeks ago, but that effort has been stopped until we get a dry spell.

McMurtry and his crew won't be working in the storm, but are guaranteed to have their work cut out for them when the clouds clear.

"We're up against some pretty big forces," he said. "Especially if the rainfall is significant. It may overwhelm our capabilities."