first fire, now flood. The Governor has declared this county

a disaster area, and not solely due to the fire but due to the expected flooding. The fire burned all the ground brush at the base of each hill and now they are expecting heavy rains tonight. This means the water will have nothing to slow it down and it will run down into the homes at the base of the mountain. The county just started handing out sandbags. If there is flooding we may well be affected as the mountain in front of the shop slopes down to within a couple hundred yards of the street in front of us, so in theory we could be affected. We had a wall put up in front of the shop years ago to keep the bad guys from driving thru the front window and getting into the shop. Now that wall might well stop water from getting in.

Now remember this is all conjecture as the rain hasn't even started yet. But declaring the county a disaster area before it hits means funds will be available immediately to help those affected most by the flooding. Our conservative Governor is a smart dude.