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Teams searching for the remnants of the deadliest fire in California's history were able to search wrecks in dry weather on Saturday, but rains are expected to return next week and officials have been put in guard against landslides.
The campfire virtually wiped out the mountain community of Paradise, 280 km northeast of San Francisco, on November 8, killing at least 85 people and destroying 14,000 homes. According to the Butte County Sheriff's Office, the death toll has been multiplied by a Saturday night.
According to the Butte County Sheriff's Office, some 475 people from Paradise and surrounding communities are still missing.
Search hundreds
Hundreds of police and volunteers have been searching in and around Paradise since the fire that ravaged the area.
The rain of 2 to 3 inches (5 to 8 cm) fell in recent days has turned to ashes the ashes of thousands of destroyed homes, complicating the work of finding bodies reduced to fragments of bone.
Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea warned that the remains of some of the victims may never be found.
Rain a threat
A total of 2 to 3 inches (5 to 8 cm) of rain is forecast for camp-burned areas from Wednesday to Saturday, said weather forecaster David Roth of the Federal Weather Forecast Center.
The rains recorded earlier this week did not trigger any large debris flows, but Roth said the danger of mudslide would remain far in the future as the hillsides stripped by the flame are without vegetation.
"Any heavy rain in the next few years would be a problem," he said.
Authorities announced that they would lift evacuation orders in some areas south of Paradise on Saturday.
Most retired victims
The city of Paradise was a popular retirement destination, with a quarter of the 27,000 residents aged 65 and over. Most of the fire victims identified so far were older than the age of retirement.
Thanks to the rains, the firefighters have mastered 98% of the fire, which has ravaged 62,000 acres (62,000 hectares), an area five times larger than that of San Francisco, officials said.
Investigators have not yet determined the cause of the fire.
Thousands of people forced to flee Paradise spent Thanksgiving in warehouses in the nearby town of Chico, or with friends or relatives in nearby towns.
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