A storm sweeping through Southern California on Monday afternoon brought heavy rainfall and prompted temporary evacuation orders for communities recently scarred by wildfires.
Residents in Silverado, Williams and Modjeska canyons in Orange County were ordered to evacuate due to possible debris flows in the area, county officials said. In 2020, the Bond fire menaced all three canyon communities on the edge of the Cleveland National Forest.
The flooding fears that initially prompted Orange County to issue the mandatory orders took effect at noon. But by 4 p.m., the order was downgraded to an evacuation warning.
Bryan Lussier with his dog Trixie, who wears an improvised raincoat, enjoy a walk through the rain on Silverado Canyon Road on Monday, March 28, 2022. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
A woman tries to control her umbrella as she walks through Mason Regional Park in Irvine, CA on Monday, March 28, 2022. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Students cross College Avenue in Claremont under a small umbrella on a rainy Monday near the campus of Pomona College in Claremont March 28, 2022. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Bianca Kulback moves cones near her home on Silverado Canyon Road where water gushes off the mountainside on Monday, March 28, 2022. Although a mandatory evacuation was in place for the burn-scarred canyon areas, many residents, like Kulback, said they were going to ride out the storm. Kulback recently installed new berms to protect her home that she has lived in for eight years. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
The intersection of Oxnard St and Lasaine Ave in Encino, was closed temporarily on Monday March, 28, 2022 due to flooding from rain. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Members of the Los Alamitos High School show choir teams celebrate after returning from Nashville in Los Alamitos, CA, on Monday, March 28, 2022. The school’s Sound FX team won the 2022 National Grand Champion earning; Best Vocals, Best Choreography, Outstanding Female Soloist Danielle Barron, Outstanding Male Soloists Alessandro Briseño-Tapia and Adam Jorge.(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Visitors to the pier take a walk in the rain in Seal Beach, CA, on Monday, March 28, 2022. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
A grazing steer stares skyward as rain pours down along Live Oak Canyon Road on Monday, March 28, 2022. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Members of the Los Alamitos High School show choir teams pause for a group photo after returning from Nashville in Los Alamitos, CA, on Monday, March 28, 2022. The school’s Sound FX team won the 2022 National Grand Champion earning; Best Vocals, Best Choreography, Outstanding Female Soloist Danielle Barron, Outstanding Male Soloists Alessandro Briseño-Tapia and Adam Jorge.(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Supporter cheer for members of the Los Alamitos High School show choir teams as they return from Nashville in Los Alamitos, CA, on Monday, March 28, 2022. The school’s Sound FX team won the 2022 National Grand Champion earning; Best Vocals, Best Choreography, Outstanding Female Soloist Danielle Barron, Outstanding Male Soloists Alessandro Briseño-Tapia and Adam Jorge.(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Members of the Los Alamitos High School show choir teams return from Nashville in Los Alamitos, CA, on Monday, March 28, 2022. The school’s Sound FX team won the 2022 National Grand Champion earning; Best Vocals, Best Choreography, Outstanding Female Soloist Danielle Barron, Outstanding Male Soloists Alessandro Briseño-Tapia and Adam Jorge.(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
A student uses a jacket to cover up as he walks through the Marston Quad on a rainy Monday on the campus of Pomona College in Claremont March 28, 2022. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
A cyclist is reflected in a puddle in Irvine, CA after storms moved through the area on Monday, March 28, 2022. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Students cross the Marston Quad on a rainy Monday on the campus of Pomona College in Claremont March 28, 2022. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Heavy rain moved through the south bay on Monday flooding streets and bring fog to parts of the Palos Verdes Peninsula. (Photo by Chuck Bennett, Contributing Photographer)
Heavy rain moved through the south bay on Monday flooding streets and bring fog to parts of the Palos Verdes Peninsula. (Photo by Chuck Bennett, Contributing Photographer)
Heavy rain moved through the south bay on Monday flooding streets and bring fog to parts of the Palos Verdes Peninsula. (Photo by Chuck Bennett, Contributing Photographer)
A man walks in the Woodland Hills Kaiser Permanente Hospital parking lot as heavy showers fell on Monday morning, March 28, 2022. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Signs on Santiago Canyon Road warn canyon residents of a mandatory evacuation because of potential mudslides from rain on Monday, March 28, 2022. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Bianca Kulback keeps an eye on water gushing off the mountainside near her Silverado Canyon home on Monday, March 28, 2022. Although a mandatory evacuation was in place for the burn-scarred canyon areas, many residents, like Kulback, said they were going to ride out the storm. Kulback recently installed new berms to protect her home that she has lived in for eight years. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Visitors, and a bird, hang out on the pier after the rain passed in Huntington Beach, CA, on Monday, March 28, 2022. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Clouds roll through Huntington Beach, CA, after a rain storm passed on Monday, March 28, 2022. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
A beachgoer looks for treasure among the sand volleyball courts north of the pier in Huntington Beach, CA, on Monday, March 28, 2022. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Shoppers leave a Trader Joe’s in Irvine, CA with their umbrellas up as storms moved through the area on Monday, March 28, 2022. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)
A Los Angeles Police officer monitors the intersection of Oxnard St and Lasaine Ave in Encino that was closed temporarily on Monday March, 28, 2022 due to flooding from rain. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
A Los Angeles Police department vehicle makes it’s way through the flooded intersection of Oxnard St and Lasaine Ave in Encino Monday March, 28, 2022 due to flooding from rain. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
A woman waits for a bus on a rainy morning in Long Beach on Monday, March 28, 2022. (Photo by Brittany Murray, Press-Telegram/SCNG)
A little rain didn’t stop this woman and her English Bulldog from walking the shoreline in Long Beach on Monday, March 28, 2022. (Photo by Brittany Murray, Press-Telegram/SCNG)
Umbrellas were no match for the wind on a rainy morning in Long Beach on Monday, March 28, 2022. (Photo by Brittany Murray, Press-Telegram/SCNG)
A Carter High School student is drenched as they wait for a ride while standing in the rain after school on Monday, March 28, 2022. (Photo by Eric Vilchis, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
A Carter High School student is drenched as they wait for a ride while standing in the rain after school on Monday, March 28, 2022. (Photo by Eric Vilchis, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Crews work to remove mud from Silverado Canyon Road and Olive Drive after a storm passed trough on
Monday, March 28, 2022. More rain is expected this evening. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Crews work to remove mud from Silverado Canyon Road and Olive Drive after a storm passed trough on
Monday, March 28, 2022. More rain is expected this evening. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Bryan Lussier and his dog Trixie, who wears an improvised raincoat, enjoys a walk through the rain on Silverado Canyon Road on Monday, March 28, 2022. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
As a clouds reflect in a puddle, sandbags are in place along Silverado Canyon Road while residents brace for the next storm to hit in the evening on Monday, March 28, 2022. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
No evacuation orders were issued for canyon communities in Los Angeles, San Bernardino or Riverside counties as of Monday afternoon, but weather officials warned of possible flooding on city streets in those areas.
“Everybody’s going to get heavy rain, but obviously the Bond fire areas are most sensitive,” said Matt Moreland, a meteorologist with the NWS in San Diego. “In (the Inland Empire) and urban areas of Orange County, we’re mainly concerned about street flooding.”
Rain catches in the San Gabriel Mountains were already swollen with water by mid-morning. And the Los Angeles River was flowing rapidly; a dog was seen struggling in the water and was eventually rescued.
Most mountain areas were expected to receive between 1 to 2 inches of rain by Thursday, and snow was possible as low as 6,000 feet, according to the National Weather Service in Los Angeles. Valley and coastal areas could see as many as 1.5 inches of rain.
As of 5 p.m., 1.85 inches of rain was recorded at an NWS gauge at Lytle Creek, .55 inches of rain was observed in San Antonio Heights and .35 inches was measured in Temecula, according to the NWS’ San Diego office. In Los Angeles County, NWS records showed east Pasadena received 2.1 inches and Woodland Hills 1.32 inches of rain in the 24-hour period ending just before 6:30 p.m.
The downpour Monday follows several days of fairly hot and dry weather. The storms are the result of a dramatic change in atmospheric pressure out over the Pacific Ocean, Moreland said.
Potential debris flows in the Bond fire burn scar are of concern. After a dry 2021, much of the canyon areas burned in Fall 2020 have had little new brush growth, meaning the soil on canyon slopes has nothing to anchor it down. That means the threshold for the amount of rainfall that could trigger flows is especially low right now, Moreland said.
“Unfortunately that means that any time we get any amount of rain, those areas will be sensitive to debris flows,” he said.
Staff writer Quinn Wilson contributed to this story.
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