SAN DIEGO -- Maps showing the flood hazards that resulted from the Southern California wildfires are now available on the Internet.

Click Here To View Flood Maps (Adobe Acrobat Required)

Mountains normally absorb most rainfall, but the effects of wildfires on vegetation and soil can create more runoff, increasing flood hazards in those areas.

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The October wildfires burned more than 739,000 acres of national forest, state forest, tribal land and private land in California. Twenty-six people were killed and 3,631 homes were destroyed. A total of 4,676 structures, including 36 commercial buildings, were wiped out.

About one-third of the burned acreage was on national forest land. The U.S. Forest Service spent more than $80 million suppressing the blazes.

Developed from the Federal Emergency Management Agency's analysis, the Post-Fire Advisory Flood Hazard Maps are intended to provide a general understanding of the increased flood risk for the five counties affected by the disaster.

They do not, however, replace the current Flood Insurance Rate Maps for determining the flood insurance program corresponding to a particular location.

Two days ago, President George W. Bush signed the Healthy Forests Restoration Act into law. Proponents say it will provide "tools" for cleaning out some of the hundreds of thousands of acres of "mortality" -- or dead trees -- that still remain and represent a fire hazard in the San Bernardino National Forest.

Environmentalists contend the law will be a boon to the logging industry.