Around 23 million people across California are covered by flood notices Friday as Los Angeles braces for what could be a month's worth of rain in a day.
Concerns about heavy rain in the area — which receives an average of 0.78 inches in November — are compounded by burn scars left by the deadly and disastrous Palisades and Eaton fires in January, which could exacerbate flooding.
“Excessive rainfall is the primary, life-threatening concern, with widespread flash flooding and debris flows likely across the vulnerable burn scar areas of Santa Barbara, Ventura, and Los Angeles Counties,” the National Weather Service said in its forecast discussion Friday.
In parts of Ventura County, rainfall estimates range from 2 to 5 inches for coasts and valleys, and 4 to 8 inches for mountains and foothills.
The San Diego metropolitan area is also under a moderate risk of flooding Friday and Saturday.
Evacuation orders, warnings and advisories are in effect for specific burn-scar areas, according to local authorities.
- Evacuation order (from 8 p.m. PT Friday to 8 a.m. Sunday): The areas of the Palisades and Eaton burn scars, as well as the Canyon, Bethany, Hurst, Kenneth, Sunset, Lidia, Franklin, and Bridge fire burn-scar areas.
- Evacuation warning (from Thursday to Sunday): The Mountain Fire burn area and the Matilija Canyon, North Fork and Camino Cielo communities in Ventura County.
- Evacuation advisory: In Kern County, residents of the Borel Fire burn scar area were under an advisory Friday that urges them to be ready to flee if flooding or debris flows take place.
In the San Bernardino County mountain and foothill communities of Mount Baldy Village, Northeast Yucaipa, East Highland, Wrightwood, Seven Oaks, and Forest Falls, residents are being told to be ready to leave in an instant because “there is a potential for mud and debris flow,” the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said.
There will be two rounds of wet weather, with the first round bringing relatively light rain to the region Friday and a second one armed with 2 to 5 inches of precipitation for urban Southern California and as much as 6 inches for isolated regions such as mountains and foothills, federal forecasters said.
The peak of the storm, a second wave that could produce rain at a rate of 1 inch per hour, was expected to bring its worst impacts on Saturday morning, forecasters said.
"Expect those bursts of heavy rain to pick up in the morning," Ariel Cohen, chief meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Oxnard, said at Friday evening news conference. "The worst of the conditions is expected to persist through early Saturday afternoon."
Hip-hop artist Tyler, the Creator’s annual, two-day festival in Los Angeles, Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival at Dodger Stadium, was pushed back to next weekend because of the incoming weather, organizers said.
Rain was falling across parts of Southern California on Friday afternoon, bringing reports of a car stuck in six inches of mud on Highway 101 near El Capitan State Beach. Los Angeles International Airport reported nearly an inch of rainfall within an hour, exceeding its average monthly rainfall for the entire month of November.
Child swept into ocean
As high surf associated with the storm moved in along California's Central Coast, a 5-year-old girl was swept into the ocean at Garrapata State Beach before 1 p.m. Friday amid waves estimated at 15 to 20 feet, authorities said.
A search for her was ongoing Friday night, the Monterey County Sheriff's Office said in a statement.
Her father tried to rescue the girl and was able to grab her by a hand, the office said. The man was rescued by an off-duty California State Parks official who performed CPR, but died at a hospital, it said.
The girl's mother also went into the water to try to rescue the pair but was unsuccessful. She made it back to shore and was taken to a hospital with mild hypothermia, the sheriff's office said. Another child, described as a 2-year-old, was unharmed, it said.
The National Weather Service on Friday night issued a "beach hazards statement" estimating waves along that coastline at 15 to 20 feet and advising people to stay out of the water.
