LOS ANGELES – Amid a rare October storm, some homes in wildfire-affected Los Angeles areas faced evacuation orders as Southern California braced for intense rain, strong winds, and potential mudslides.
“The weather is a serious concern,” stated Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass in a Monday night press briefing, noting that emergency strike teams, rescue squads, and helicopters were prepared for any situation.
The evacuation orders impacted approximately 115 homes, primarily in Pacific Palisades and Mandeville Canyon. These areas had previously suffered from a massive January wildfire that claimed over 30 lives and destroyed more than 17,000 structures in Los Angeles County. Wildfires strip vegetation, weakening hillsides and increasing the risk of soil movement during storms.
Bass, alongside other officials, advised residents throughout the region to stay vigilant and indoors, with the storm’s peak anticipated early Tuesday through the afternoon. As of Monday night, more than 16,000 people were already without power, according to PowerOutage.us.
The National Weather Service’s Los Angeles office forecasted up to 4 inches (10.2 centimeters) of rain in some regions, calling it a “rare and very potent storm system.”
Ariel Cohen, head meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Los Angeles, highlighted the potential for a few tornadoes, emphasizing the storm’s unpredictability as a significant challenge.
“The nature of this system is such that we cannot be certain about exactly when and where these impacts will strike, the exact details until right before they occur at the earliest,” he said.
Teams from the Los Angeles Fire Department had started patrolling the area Monday night and a section of state Route 27, beginning at the Pacific Coast Highway, was closed in preparation for the storm, the California Department of Transportation, known as Caltrans, said on social media.
The weather service also warned of high winds that could knock down trees and power lines.
To the north, up to 3 feet (1 meter) of mountain snow was predicted for parts of the Sierra Nevadas.
Heavy rain had already started falling Monday evening across much of Northern California, bringing some urban flooding around the San Francisco Bay Area.
Gladstones Restaurant, located along the Pacific Coast Highway, said it was closing on Tuesday in anticipation of the heavy rains. The Pacific Palisades establishment is located at an intersection that has experienced heavy debris flow during past rains.
In February, torrential rains unleashed debris flows and mudslides in several neighborhoods torched by the January fires. In the community of Sierra Madre, near the site of the Eaton Fire, water, debris and boulders rushed down the mountain, trapping cars in the mud and damaging several home garages. A portion of the Pacific Coast Highway by Pacific Palisades was submerged in at least 3 feet of sludge, and a swift debris flow swept a Los Angeles Fire Department vehicle into the ocean.
Concerns about post-fire debris flows have been especially high since 2018, when the town of Montecito, up the coast from Los Angeles, was ravaged by mudslides after a downpour hit mountain slopes burned bare by a huge blaze. Hundreds of homes were damaged and 23 people died.
Elsewhere in the U.S., Typhoon Halong brought hurricane-force winds and ravaging storm surges and floodwaters that swept some homes away in Alaska over the weekend. One person was dead and two were missing in western Alaska on Monday, while more than 50 people had been rescued — some plucked from rooftops.
Officials warned of a long road to recovery and a need for continued support for the hardest-hit communities with winter just around the corner.
In Tempe, Arizona, a microburst and thunderstorm on Monday dropped about a half-inch of rain within 10 minutes, the National Weather Service said. The storm caused significant damage, including uprooting trees that toppled onto vehicles and buildings, and dropping them on streets and sidewalks. A business complex had its roof torn off, and thousands of homes lost power.
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Golden reported from Seattle. Associated Press writer Becky Bohrer contributed from Juneau, Alaska.
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