Rain is on its way to the south ca On Saturday, firefighters will help mop up multiple wildfires. But heavy rains on the charred hills could bring the threat of new problems like toxic ash runoff.
Los Angeles County crews spent much of the week clearing vegetation, preparing slopes and reinforcing roads in areas devastated by the Palisades and Eaton fires, which reduced entire neighborhoods to rubble and ash after they erupted during strong winds on Jan. 7.
The National Weather Service said most of the area would likely get less than an inch of precipitation, but “the threat is high enough to prepare for the worst-case scenario” of localized cloudiness causing mud and debris to flow into the hills.
“While consolidated debris flows are not the most likely outcome, there is still a lot of uncertainty with this storm,” the Los Angeles Weather Service said on social media.
Rain was expected to begin Saturday afternoon, increase throughout the weekend, and continue into Monday. Flood watches have been issued for some burn areas.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass issued an executive order this week to speed up cleanup efforts and mitigate the environmental impacts of contaminants related to the fire. Los Angeles County supervisors also approved an emergency proposal to install flood control infrastructure and speed up sediment removal in areas affected by the fire.
Fire crews filled sandbags for communities, while county workers installed barricades and cleared drainpipes and sinkholes.
Officials warned that the ash in recent burn areas was a toxic mix of burned cars, electronics, batteries, building materials, paints, furniture and every other type of personal belonging. It contains pesticides, asbestos, plastic and lead. Residents were urged to wear protective equipment while cleaning.
Concerns about post-fire debris flows have been particularly high since 2018, when the town of Montecito up the coast from Los Angeles was hit by a mudslide after rain hit mountain slopes scorched by a large fire. Twenty-three people died, and hundreds of homes were damaged.
While the impending wet weather is expected to end weeks of dangerous storms and lower humidity, several wildfires were still burning Saturday across Southern California. That heat included the Movers and Eaton, which killed at least 28 people and destroyed more than 14,000 structures. Containment of the Palisades Fire was 81%, and the Eaton Fire was 95%.
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In northern Los Angeles County, firefighters made significant progress against the Hughes Fire, prompting evacuations for tens of thousands of people when it broke out Wednesday in the mountains near the Castaic Lake area.
In San Diego County, there remains little containment of Border 2, which flows through a remote area of the Otay Mountain wilderness near the U.S.-Mexico border.
The rain is expected to pick up a streak of near-record dry weather for Southern California. Most of the area received less than 5% of its average precipitation for this point in the water year, which began on October 1, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday.
Most of Southern California is now in either “severe drought” or “severe drought,” according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
