San Bernardino County Could Face Flash Floods

Standing in the drizzling rain, Tim Oborny filled white sandbags Saturday at Wildwood Park in San Bernardino and stacked them in the back of his blue pickup truck after storms placed residents on flash-flood alert.

“I’ve been out here every weekend doing this,” he said. “It’s just getting old.”

Oborny moved back to California last fall, just two weeks before the Old fire got close to his ranch-style house as it destroyed more than 70 avocado trees in his grove. The fire cleared the mountainside above his property, increasing the risk of mudslides.

San Bernardino County officials warned residents Saturday to be prepared for flash floods because the rain was expected to intensify early today.

National Weather Service meteorologist Brandt Maxwell predicted scattered showers today and Monday, with a break Tuesday.

The rain is expected to return midweek and continue through Saturday.

Officials have been especially cautious since torrential rains triggered two flash floods on Christmas Day that killed 15 people at a church camp and separate campground.

Law enforcement officials were on alert Saturday night, monitoring the burned areas for possible shifts in the mountainsides.

“We are patrolling the entire foothill frontage,” said Vana Olson, assistant director of the county Department of Public Works.

At the fire station in Devore, where two were killed by the deadly flash floods, green sandbags were piled outside for anyone who wanted them.

No one had come by Saturday to pick them up, Capt. David Herrera said.

But Oborny, 35, wasn’t taking any chances. He said he already had stacked about 300 sandbags to protect his property.

The last time it rained, Oborny said, his land flooded.

“It’s just bringing the mountain down with it, mud and everything,” he said.