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Because true chicness has its own rules.

The catastrophic mudslide that inundated houses in Montecito in Santa Barbara County in January, killing 21 people, appeared to hit suddenly. But the disaster, mere weeks after a wildfire scorched the area, didn’t come out of nowhere.

For over two decades, Cal State Fullerton’s Binod Tiwari has studied such mudslides and landslides around the world, including in Southern California, to understand their causes and mitigate their devastation.

In 2014, the civil and environmental engineering professor and his students worked on a regional study on debris flow and mudflow after a series of December storms. The study included areas affected by the Silverado Canyon fire and the 91 Freeway fire, both in September 2014. It found that reports of mudflows and mudslides appeared to be exclusively in areas that burned that year or the year before.

Where the largest debris flows occurred during the December storms, they were generally expected. Where recently burned areas on steep slopes did not experience flows or slides, such as the Silverado fire zones, the biggest and perhaps only reason appeared to be that the rainfall was less intense and prolonged than the known threshold that initiates such events, the study said.

In 2015, Tiwari traveled to Nepal, his homeland, to co-lead an international team that evaluated damage to buildings after an earthquake killed more than 8,600 people. He did something similar after the 2011 quake and tsunami in Japan.

Tiwari, named CSUF’s outstanding professor in 2017, is a vice president of the International Consortium on Landslides and an executive editor of the consortium’s journal Landslides. He is an editor for many of the books, teaching tools and forum proceedings that ICL publishes, and he organizes conferences and collaborates with United Nations organizations on disaster preparedness for landslides.

Tiwari recently answered questions for the CSUF News Service on his latest research efforts to reduce deaths and property destruction caused by catastrophic mudslides:

What is a mudslide versus a landslide?

Mudslides and landslides seem to be synonymous, but they are different. A landslide is the movement of soil or rock mass due to the loss of resistance against the force that is pushing the soil or rock downwards and outwards. Landslides involve a shallow or deep soil/rock mass, which could be dry or saturated with water. As such, they are slides and not a flow. A mudslide is generally a flow of saturated soil mass that has water content high enough for the soil to behave as liquid. Mudslides happen very quickly with fast-moving soil and water.

What causes these natural disasters?

Landslides are caused by the downward seepage of rainwater through the soil mass, which increases the weight of soil, and in most cases, results in raising the groundwater toward the surface and causing soil failure. Landslides can occur due to other causes, such as earthquakes and snowmelt — with soil erosion, in many cases, the primary cause. Mudslides are caused by water saturation of the immediate topsoil layer from rainfall. Wildfires are a triggering factor for mudslides usually due to vegetation loss.

What have you learned through your research efforts?

My research involves landslide and mudslide mitigation in the United States, Japan and Nepal. My work focuses on trying to figure out the rainfall amount per hour, which causes infiltration into the soil to trigger landslides, as well as soil erosion. The intensity of rainfall, as well as slope inclination and lack of vegetation cover, play crucial roles in triggering mudslides. The prevention of landslides requires expensive countermeasures, mostly resistive in nature, such as re-grading the slopes, managing groundwater, restraining slopes with piles, and retaining walls and anchors.

Vegetation and water management are the main preventive measures for mudslides. Barrier dams constructed on gullies and creeks, and retaining walls near properties adjacent to slopes, can also help to reduce the devastating effects of mudslides.

Are you planning any new research efforts on this front?

Together with my students, this spring we will be studying the impact of vegetation loss in triggering mudslides. I have a rain simulator system and a slope model box in my research lab, and we will study how we can minimize post-wildfire mudslides like what happened in the Santa Barbara area. We will be simulating various slopes from Southern California wildfire-affected areas over the past 10 years. We’ll also be evaluating the stability of slopes and the potential for mudslides, using different rainfall intensities and durations, with and without vegetation cover. Additionally, we will explore the effectiveness of various types of mudflow barriers for temporary and long-term protection of properties from potential mudslides.

Do you have any advice to those living in areas prone to mudslides and landslides?

If the risk of mudslide or landslide is high, people need to be ready to evacuate the risk-prone area during intense rainfall.

In honor of National Boy Scout Day, local Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts held a day of hikes, tours, restoration planting and trail maintenance Feb. 10 at Tucker Wildlife Sanctuary in Modjeska Canyon, Silverado.

Tucker Wildlife Sanctuary is owned and operated by CSUF’s College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. Renowned for its birding, the sanctuary offers three nature trails, a picnic area, an amphitheater and a Natural Science Center with interactive exhibits, live animals, native animal taxidermy and children’s activities. Its Native Plant nursery sells drought-tolerant plants.

The sanctuary will hold a guided bird walk led by artist and birder Julie Williams on Saturday, March 24, at 8:10 a.m. The walk is suitable for beginning and intermediate birders. Visitors will explore native habitats and learn to identify local birds. Suitable for ages 12 and older, the event costs $5 per person. Reservations are required and may be made by calling 714-649-2760.

— Wendy Fawth

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SEAL BEACH Police are searching for a man and two teenage girls wanted in connection with a robbery Saturday, Feb. 17 at a T-Mobile store.

Shortly before 6:30 p.m., the man and girls entered the store at 13936 Seal Beach Blvd., Sgt. Mike Henderson said in a statement.

The man removed cellphones from a display area and threatened an employee with pepper spray, Henderson said.

The man then fled the store without discharging the spray. The employee was uninjured, he said.

The man is described as Hispanic, in his 30s, with a mustache and about 5 feet 6 inches tall and about 230 pounds.

He was wearing a black shirt and black shorts and has a tattoo of red lips on his neck, Henderson said.

The girls are about 13 and 14 years old, he added.

Anyone with information about the robbery is asked to contact Detective Jeff Gibson at 562-799-4100 ext. 1109.

Cal State Fullerton students experiencing hardships such as food or housing insecurity can now stop by a new center on campus for anything from a toothbrush to an interview outfit to temporary housing.

Tuffy’s Basic Needs Services Center opened Feb. 14 in Room 143 of McCarthy Hall.

The center promotes wellness and offers support — food assistance, short-term housing, hygiene products, professional clothing, emergency grant funds and off-campus social services — to enable students to complete their education.

“Students who face sudden crisis situations that cause basic-needs hardships will clearly struggle to meet academic expectations,” said Carmen Curiel, associate dean of students. “A center specifically intended to address these concerns and provide needed resources can help restore a student’s well-being and in turn result in educational achievement.”

Other area colleges have opened food pantries recently.

Tuffy’s Basic Needs Services Center is coordinated by the Dean of Students Office, supporting the CSU’s systemwide Basic Needs Initiative. A 2015 study by the chancellor’s office estimated that 8 to 12 percent of the system’s 460,000 students live in unstable housing conditions and that 21 to 24 percent lack regular access to food.

Resources offered at Tuffy’s Basic Needs Services Center:

• Food assistance in the form of gift cards to campus dining locations, donated meals at the Gastronome, Titan Bites messaging app, CalFresh Program, referrals to a full-service pantry near campus
• Emergency temporary housing for up to two weeks
• Hygiene products
• Gently used professional attire
• Financial support for unforeseen emergencies, crises or catastrophic events

For more information, visit the Dean of Students Office website or call 657-278-3211.

IRVINE – Crean Lutheran junior Chris Swardstrom made just three baskets Tuesday night, but he sank two of them in the final nine seconds to lift the Saints to a 42-40 victory over San Gabriel Academy in the quarterfinals of the CIF-SS 3AA playoffs at Crean Lutheran High.

The victory sends Crean Lutheran (21-9) into the semifinals for the second time in school history and the first time since 2016. The Saints will face St. Anthony Friday night in Long Beach.

With the score tied 40-40, Crean Lutheran got the ball with 2.7 seconds left following a travelling call against San Gabriel Academy. The Saints passed the ball the length of the court and got it to Swardstrom, who cooly sank the fade-away outside jumper at the buzzer and was mobbed by the Saints students.

“That’s the way coach drew it up and we ran the play,” Swardstrom said. “I got an open shot, so I shot it.”

Unreal. Chris Swardstrom with the baseline fading buzzer beater. Crean beats SGA, 42-40. pic.twitter.com/NYTmK2AVzv

— Devin Ugland (@Devin_Ugland) February 21, 2018

Swardstrom’s 3-pointer with nine seconds remaining tied the score 40-40.

“I was confident I could make that shot,” Swardstrom said of the 3-pointer. “I do it every day at practice.”

Swardstrom wound up with eight points. Jake Conerty (18 points) and Isaiah Johnson (13 points) led the Saints’ scoring.

San Gabriel Academy (26-5) was led by Malakhi Jensen with 10 points.

“It was a great game,” said Crean Lutheran coach Josh Beaty. “Chris Swardstrom had a huge game for us. It’s awesome to see. I’m so happy for him; I’m very proud of him. He’s had some ups and downs, so to see him step up when it matters most and have the confidence to make those big shots, it was very rewarding to see that.”

San Gabriel Academy led 16-6 after one quarter and 25-17 at halftime.

Crean Lutheran battled back, outscoring San Gabriel Valley 10-7 in the third quarter to cut the lead to five going into the final quarter.

A dunk by Johnson early in the fourth quarter cut the lead to three and got the home team fans fired up.

Crean Lutheran tied the score 37-37 with 2 minutes left on a basket by Johnson,.

San Gabriel Academy moved ahead 40-37 on a basket by Ian McCloskey with 57.9 seconds left before the Saints rallied.

“Everyone was nervous, understandably so (in the first half),” Beaty said. “We just never really got settled in. It took a half until we got settled in. It was a grind, it was hard to score tonight. Luckily, our press opened things up and got us some easy baskets.

“We’ve got good players and good kids. I feel fortunate that we’re in the situation that we are.”

Beaty praised the play of sophomore guard Derek Bagatourian.

“Early, when things went really poorly for us, we were having a hard time scoring, he took three charges in one quarter,” Beaty said. “That is the most important game changing sequence because if they would have scored those buckets, we would have been down by 20 at halftime.”

Victoria Beckham channeled her love of contemporary art into this soft-edged, colorful collection that was inspired by the colors and creations of Jean-Michel Basquiat and David Hockney.
“I’m always inspired by contemporary art, and I think that you can feel that when you look at some of the prints. There’s also a bit of a Warhol feel about this collection with all the Polaroids,” said the designer, pulling out a midi skirt with a repeating pattern of blurred Polaroid images taken by the artist Maripol of Basquiat and his peers.
The collection also drew from the color palettes of both artists, in the form of a cornflower blue chunky corduroy jacket and a long corn-colored coat with a zip front and big patch pockets. Beckham went big on burgundy, too, in the form of a soft shearling motorcycle jacket and buttery leather tops and dresses.
The collection was full of textural contrasts, with a chunky fisherman’s knit sweater hanging on a rail near a snappy gold pleated skirt at the presentation space at Mark’s Club in Mayfair.
“VVB is easy to wear, with lots of soft tailoring pieces, and I always like to have fun with it as well. It’s making dressing easy for

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“A Republic of imagination” is how Moncler described its new Moncler Genius project, which the company unveiled with a special event opening Milan Fashion Week on Tuesday.
To be sure, imagination and creativity stood out throughout the installation, which featured a building with seven cells, each of them housing one of the seven collections that Moncler will launch over the next few months with special drops. At the entrance of the space two imaginative museum bookshops displayed the lineup that was developed by Francesco Ragazzi, creative director of Palm Angels, and the eighth brand involved in the Genius project.
Lights were projected on the silver tarps covering the cells, featuring arch entrances giving access to the eight different microcosms. Reflecting the specific identity of each collection, the cells were all decorated with customized installations.
For example, Valentino creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli embellished his cell with works by artist Sidival Fila, which were deeply linked with the sense of purity infused in his Moncler Pierpaolo Piccioli collection. “I wanted to focus on authenticity and the essentials,” the designer said. “That’s the reason why I used the most basic nylon, which I crafted for the silhouettes I like, inspired by Piero della Francesca and Beato

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