An early-season storm lashed Northern California with drenching rain on Monday and was moving through the evening toward Southern California, where officials in Los Angeles County issued evacuation warnings in some areas. Thunderstorms could unleash heavy rain that sends torrents of water, mud, sand, rocks, trees and boulders down steep slopes in places recently burned by wildfires, forecasters warned.
The National Weather Service’s office in Oxnard, Calif., said that debris flows were possible in burn scars across San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles Counties; areas burned by the Palisades and Eaton fires in January and by the Bridge fire last year were particularly at risk.
Evacuation warnings mean that hazardous conditions are possible and that people should keep an eye out for evacuation orders calling for immediate action.
Lisa Phillips, a meteorologist with the Weather Service’s Oxnard office, said that it was unlikely that widespread debris flows would occur in all of the burn scars, but that it was likely that at least one area would get hit with a heavy downpour that creates problems.
“We’re confident that something will happen somewhere, but where that happens, that’s where the confidence is lower,” Ms. Phillips said.
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