Cleanup efforts underway across Southern California ahead of another storm

Evacuation warnings have officially gone into effect in recent wildfire burn areas.

An official interactive map shows where evacuations are in effect in Los Angeles County, including the areas impacted by these fires: Canyon, Bethany, Palisades, Eaton, Hurst, Kenneth, Sunset, Lidia, Franklin and Bridge.

The city of Los Angeles issued an evacuation warning that will be in effect now through 11 a.m. Sunday for residents near the Palisades, Hurst and Sunset fire burn zones. County officials, meanwhile, issued an evacuation warning for residents near the Eaton Fire area in Altadena.

L.A.'s Emergency Operations Center is also now officially open.

City News Service contributed to this report.

Crews in Riverside are working swiftly to clear the area near the Santa Ana riverbed and help people find shelter in higher ground ahead of the storm.

"They're anticipating the water level to maybe hit around 7 feet, but once it gets 10 feet or over, that's when our fire department and the county fire are going to have to start doing some rescues," said Ryan Railsback, the public information officer for the Riverside Police Department.

"It's unnecessarily putting yourself in danger, but it's also putting our first responders, our firefighters, at high risk."

Crews in Riverside are working swiftly to clear the area near the Santa Ana riverbed and help people find shelter in higher ground ahead of the storm.

People who live in Riverside who spoke with Eyewitness News on Thursday said they're grateful that crews are staying on top of preparations, but some have their own concerns.

"We need rain, but I'm afraid that the side of my house is going to get flooded because the drain pipe is broken, so I had to fix that today," said resident Randi Walsath.

In San Bernardino, residents have been filling up sandbags at Wildwood Park, making preparations before the storm moves in.

Meantime, crews continue to clear out drains and culverts in the El Dorado Fire burn scar area to hopefully avoid the large scale mudslides seen during a storm two months ago.

When it comes to the burn scar areas, county officials are going to be closely monitoring what they call "the thresholds," meaning they're looking at the maximum hourly rate of rainfall that could hit those areas.

They said when it comes to the Bridge Fire that burned in the Mount Baldy area in September 2024, they are approaching those thresholds.

When it comes to the Line, Highland, and El Dorado burn scars in Forest Falls and Oak Glen, they're not sure yet.

With an atmospheric river storm expected to arrive in Southern California overnight Thursday, precautionary evacuation warnings have been issued in recent wildfire burn areas amid fears of possible flash flooding and mudflows.

An official interactive map shows where evacuations are in effect in Los Angeles County, including the areas impacted by these fires: Canyon, Bethany, Palisades, Eaton, Hurst, Kenneth, Sunset, Lidia, Franklin and Bridge.

"With this in mind, residents, especially those in vulnerable areas, should start taking precautions immediately to prepare for the storm and protect their interests," the National Weather Service said. "This scenario would potentially create many significant impacts area-wide, including possible debris flows in the burn areas, significant ponding of roads and highways, mudslides through the canyons, fallen trees, etc."

An incoming storm will be strong enough to potentially cause serious problems in Southern California's burn scar areas, and those communities are on high alert.

Cement barriers hug the curb along both lanes of Lake Avenue as it hooks uphill through Altadena into the burn zone. The K-rails were erected as rain could send mud and debris flowing downhill.

People in those areas are also shoring up homes and businesses with sandbags in an effort to keep rain damage to a minimum.

An incoming storm will be strong enough to potentially cause serious problems in Southern California's burn scar areas, and those communities are on high alert.

"We're all trying to work together here to get these sandbags going because we're going to be needing them very soon," said Lynn Bealer, owner of Malibu Bungalow.

She's still haunted by the last storm on Feb. 13 flooding her bungalow nursery with mud. Now, she knows what needs to be protected.

"All the entrance ways where the floodwaters may come down the road - that's where it likes to travel so we want to cut it off at the pass," she said.

Duke's along Pacific Coast Highway survived the Palisades Fire in January but took a big hit from mud flows a month later, and repairs from that are still ongoing.

They are hoping this storm doesn't set them back further.