Wildfire-scorched regions in S. California evacuated for mudslide fear

Evacuation orders to residents living in areas scorched by the wildfire last year in Southern California, such as Santa Barbara, Los Angeles and Riverside, were issued on Tuesday to avoid casualties from potential mudslide.

This photo provided by the California Department of Transportation shows traffic stopped on Interstate 5 where it has been closed due to snow at Tejon Pass, an area known as the Grapevine, at Gorman in the Tehachapi Mountains of Southern California, Monday, Jan. 14, 2019. [Photo: CalTrans via AP]

Heavy rain has been drenching Southern California since Monday, raising mudslide concerns in the burned areas. In January 2017, a mudslide swept through Montecito of Santa Barbara County, a fire-devastated California town, killing 23 people.

The evacuation orders were set to take effect in Santa Barbara County at 10 a.m. Tuesday local time for areas hit by the Sherpa, Whittier and Thomas fires last year.

"Gather family members, pets, and essential items," a county statement said, adding people living near the evacuation areas, especially in Montecito, Summerland and Carpinteriaa could be stranded by debris flows which could damage or block roads.

"Residents in these adjacent areas should be prepared for this possibility and consider leaving the area during the evacuation," the statement read.

Santa Barbara County Sheriff's deputies are going door-to-door to notify people of the risk if they decide to stay behind, local TV news channel showed.

Besides a flash flood watch through Tuesday night for recent burned areas in Los Angeles and Ventura counties, the National Weather Service on Tuesday issued a flood advisory for the regions, warning that roads, streams and highways could pool with rain brought by a strong Pacific storm.

All schools were closed Tuesday in Malibu of Los Angeles County, which had been torched by the terrible Woolsey Fire last November. More than 1,500 homes and buildings were destroyed and four people were killed.

A mudslide late Monday morning forced the closure of a stretch of Pacific Coast Highway near Malibu.

In Riverside County east of Los Angeles, evacuations were ordered for a dozen areas around the last August's Holy Fire.

"People in these zones must go now. Rainstorms carry the potential for dangerous debris flows that can send mud, boulders and trees crashing down hillsides with little or no warning, a county statement said.