Fire consumes dozens of houses in California while drought does not let up

More than 20 houses, some of them multi-million dollar mansions, have been destroyed in the coastal community of Laguna Nigel (California) by a fire fueled by strong winds and dry vegetation due to the persistent drought affecting much of the western United States.

the so-called Fire Coastal, whose cause is still under investigation, began Wednesday afternoon in the Aliso Woods Canyon and led to evacuation orders that already cover some 900 homes in southern California on Thursday morning.

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Some 24 homes have been damaged or destroyed so far, according to Katrina Foley, a member of the Orange County Board of Supervisors.

The official specified on Twitter that the fire has consumed some 81 hectares of vegetation.

Firefighters from various agencies worked throughout the night and continue their efforts to save houses from the flames.

A firefighter was injured fighting the fire and was hospitalized, according to official sources. The condition of the injured person has not been specified.

The rapid expansion of firewhich has surprised meteorologists, has been favored by the drought that affects the state, as well as much of the west of the country.

A firefighter hoses down hot spots left on a house destroyed by the Coastal Fire in Laguna Niguel, California, USA. (EFE/EPA/ETIENNE LAURENT /)

The Drought Monitor reported today that extreme drought expanded from 40% to 60% of California in the last week.

This service, an association of the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln and various federal agencies, explained that the period from January to April represented the first four driest months on record in the state.

The two largest water reserves in California they are already at critically low levels, and the dry season is just beginning.

“In the Southwest, unusually hot and dry conditions, as well as strong winds, exacerbated conditions conducive to fires”, indicates the monitor in its most recent report.

Point out that 9 big fires currently affecting the region, including the Hermits Peak Fire, which has consumed approximately 204,000 acres (82,556 hectares) and is 43% contained in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, northeast of Santa Fe, New Mexico.

#UPDATE: The #CoastalFire is spreading through the Coronado Pointe neighborhood in Orange County. https://t.co/6ozpwfrdet pic.twitter.com/utpVQ5P8AJ

— CBS Los Angeles (@CBSLA) May 12, 2022

According to the service, 53.8% of the country’s 48 contiguous states (excluding Alaska and Hawaii) are currently facing drought conditions.

Drier conditions in the west of the country have caused an early start to the growing season since April. fires. Also, a record number of tornadoes in March was followed by “above average” of these phenomena in April, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA, in English).

A study published last February in the journal Nature Climate Change, led by Park Williams, a climatologist at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA), maintains that the drought that has affected the western part of the United States for two decades is the worst in 1,200 years, and that 42% of it can be attributed to climate change caused by human activities.

Source: Elcomercio