After fires, Bastrop prone to floods

BASTROP (KXAN) - Four months after fire burned down her Bastrop County home, Casey Unger was in the process of rebuilding her house. Then the rains came in January 2012.

"Here I was rebuilding from the fire and everything and its like everything I put up and everything I did was washed away by a flood about the same time last year," said Unger. "Basically, what you had was just a creek that just came through the middle of my yard and just washed any progress I made away."

County emergency management officials report much of the area affected by fire is now more prone to flooding.

"The characteristics of those areas where we we don't have the vegetation re-established yet is always surprise, so you don't have any historical record, if it rains two inches, here's what's going to happen there, so that's our main concern tonight is what's the unexpected going to be," said Emergency Operations Coordinator Mike Fisher.

Meteorologists believe Bastrop County could receive up to 6 inches of rain overnight Tuesday into Wednesday.

"What you're more concerned about is flood prone areas, roadways that are not designed to carry flood water," said Fisher.

There are more of those areas in Bastrop County since the 2011 fires.

"Our concern tonight is particularly in the burn scar where we still have highly erodible areas," Fisher explained.

Unger said she is hoping for rain, just not too much, too fast.

"If it comes as much rain as they say its going to, I am prepared as you see, but yes, I am nervous," Unger said. "I just keep losing more and more,  it seems if its not from a drought and a fire, it's from the rain."