Los Angeles Rain is expected to arrive in arid Southern California on Saturday, which will help firefighters put out several wildfires. However, torrential rains on scorched hillsides may pose a risk of fresh issues such as hazardous ash runoff.
In regions devastated by the Palisades and Eaton fires, which broke out on January 7 with strong winds and left entire neighborhoods in ash and rubble, Los Angeles County firefighters spent a large portion of the week clearing vegetation, shoring up hillsides, and strengthening roads.
According to the National Weather Service on social media, the threat is strong enough to prepare for the worst-case scenario of localized cloudbursts causing mud and debris to flow down slopes, although most of the region will probably receive around an inch of precipitation over many days.
According to meteorological service meteorologist Carol Smith on Saturday, the issue would arise if one of those rains were to pass over a burn area. That might be sufficient to produce debris flows.
According to Smith, rain was predicted to start late Saturday, get heavier over the weekend, and perhaps continue till early Tuesday. In certain burn zones, flood watches were issued. The mountains were probably covered in snow.
To speed up cleanup and lessen the negative effects of fire-related pollution on the environment, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass issued an executive order this week. Supervisors of LA County also adopted an emergency motion to expedite and remove sediment in regions affected by fires, as well as to establish flood-control infrastructure.
While county workers cleaned drainage basins and pipes and put up barriers, fire crews loaded sandbags for communities.
Authorities warned that ash from recent fires was a poisonous mixture of burned automobiles, electronics, batteries, building supplies, paints, furniture, and other domestic objects. Lead, plastics, asbestos, and insecticides are all present. When cleaning up, residents were advised to wear protective gear.
Since 2018, when a downpour struck mountain slopes stripped by a massive fire, causing mudslides to decimate the hamlet of Montecito up the coast from L.A., concerns about post-fire debris flows have been particularly acute. Hundreds of homes were damaged, and 23 people lost their lives.
Several wildfires were still burning Saturday around Southern California, despite weeks of deadly winds and low humidity coming to an end with the approaching rainy weather. These included the Eaton and Palisades fires, which destroyed over 14,000 buildings and claimed the lives of at least 28 people. The Eaton Fire was 95% contained, while the Palisades Fire was 81% contained.
Firefighters in northern Los Angeles County made great strides against the Hughes Fire, which erupted Wednesday in mountains close to Lake Castaic, forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate.
Additionally, the Border 2 Fire, which was raging across a remote region of the Otay Mountain Wilderness close to the U.S.-Mexico border in San Diego County, was still not fully contained.
It was predicted that the rain will end Southern California’s near-record dry spell. According to the Los Angeles Times on Saturday, much of the area has received less than 5% of the typical rainfall for this stage of the water year, which started on October 1.
The U.S. Drought Monitor reports that the majority of Southern California is currently experiencing either severe or exceptional drought.