Hundreds of Los Angeles residents already weary from wildfires that devastated the area last month were ordered to evacuate again on Thursday as a rainstorm threatened to bring flash floods and mudslides to the region.
Thousands more people in Southern California were under evacuation warnings as an atmospheric river began dumping rain on the usually dry metropolis.
The areas at greatest risk of flash flooding, debris flows and mudslides were the places already burned by the wildfires that destroyed thousands of homes and killed at least 29 people.
Evacuation orders were issued for specific areas torched by the Palisades Fire on the western side of Los Angeles and the Eaton Fire north of the city. Expansive evacuation warnings also covered additional areas affected by the Palisades Fire, with residents told to prepare to leave at a moment’s notice.
“Remember, if you’re ordered to leave, you may be gone for several days. I cannot stand up here and tell you you’ll be gone for 12 hours, 24 hours,” Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said Wednesday. “We don’t know. It depends on the weather.”
Southern California is already prone to occasional mudslides, and the risk increased substantially after the fires burned vegetation throughout the region. Without roots holding the soil in place, the loose terrain could easily travel downhill during a downpour.
The level of devastation will likely depend on where the hardest rains settle, according to the National Weather Service.
“If those heavy rain areas set up over some of the burn scars…there will be the potential for very severe debris flows to occur in addition to mudslides and rockslides,” NWS meteorologist Ariel Cohen told the L.A. Times. “Again, that’s an uncertain situation — far from certain right now — but everyone needs to be at a high state of readiness.”