Northern California rain hampers life for wildfire survivors

CHICO, Calif. — Amy Sheppard packs her belongings into a plastic garbage bag as rain drips around her, readying to move on from a field by a Walmart where thousands of evacuees had taken refuge from a deadly Northern California wildfire.

Sheppard, 38, her sister and niece, who is 1, are looking to move into a dry hotel after camping in the field for four days. They lost their home in Magalia and the jewelry-maker tears up as she thinks about what’s next. “This rain is making it so hard,” she said.

Rain falling Wednesday in some areas of northern California could help crews fighting a deadly wildfire. But it could also raise the risk of flash floods, complicate efforts to recover remains and make life even more difficult for people like Sheppard who have nowhere to go.

Heavier rain is expected later in the day in the Paradise burn area, which is about 140 miles north of San Francisco, where the Camp Fire has killed at least 81 people and destroyed more than 13,000 homes.

“The rain is really a doubleedged sword for this fire,” said Rick Carhart, a spokesman with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Farther south, residents of communities charred by a Los Angeles-area fire stacked sandbags as they prepared for possible downpours that threaten to unleash runoff from hillsides left barren by flames.

Residents were mindful of a disaster that struck less than a year ago when a downpour on a fresh burn scar sent home-smashing debris flows through Montecito, killing 21 people and leaving two missing.

The National Weather Service issued a flash flood watch for Paradise and nearby communities, and for those areas charred by wildfires earlier this year in Lake, Shasta, Trinity and Mendocino counties.