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Facebook fact check: Is the rain 'extremely toxic' because of smoke from Camp Fire?

The Facebook post lists six tips, including "do not allow your animals and pets to go out in the rain, and remove all standing water to prevent your pets or other animals from drinking toxic rainwater."

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A Facebook post that's been shared more than 3,000 times Monday night claims the rain will be extremely toxic and says to be aware in Northern California due to the smoke from the Camp Fire.

The post has since been taken down or made private. A screenshot of it is still being shared in several Facebook groups.

Credit: ABC10
A Facebook post circulating in Northern California claims the incoming rian is going to be toxic. It won't.

The Facebook post lists six tips, including "do not allow your animals and pets to go out in the rain, and remove all standing water to prevent your pets or other animals from drinking toxic rainwater." Chris Cappa with UC Davis is a professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He had several thoughts on this post going viral on Facebook.

"The smoke in the air will likely get largely washed out by the rain," Cappa said. "It takes it out of the atmosphere and moves it down to the ground where it runs off into our sewers and drains through your lawn."

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Cappa said the rainwater isn't necessarily toxic. He added it's OK to be outside and for your animals to be outside, and that the incoming rain, especially right now with the smoke, is a good thing.

"As bad as it is to breathe in the end, it's not that much material in the atmosphere, so when you wash it out, it's really a small one relative to everything that we have on the ground already," Cappa said.

Cappa does warn that the roads will likely be slippery because of the rainfall and to drive carefully.


RELATED: "California Wildfires: The New Normal" is ABC10's new 9-part series on how wildfires are changing lives across Northern California.

Watch episode 8 "The New Normal" now: California’s leaders tell us we’ve entered a “new normal” of more intense wildfires. The truth is: Experts think the deadly mega-fires we’ve seen are just a preview of the new normal.

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