Cleanup efforts underway across Southern California ahead of another storm

Evacuation warnings are in place for the Mountain Fire burn area and the Matilija Canyon, Camino Cielo and North Fork communities in Ventura County. The warning is in effect through 6 p.m. Sunday.

Last year's Mountain Fire devastated neighborhoods in Camarillo Heights. Ventura County has added 40 extra firefighters and three engines just in case hillsides soften and buckle.

"Our concern with this rainstorm is there's a variance in the expectations," said Andrew Dowd with the Ventura County Fire Department. "There's a variance in what the models are looking at, so if we see a heavy downpour, a significant amount of rainfall, especially over a concentrated area we might exceed the debris flow thresholds.

"Right now, the current models show that we will not exceed those debris flow thresholds, but we want to be prepared just in case it happens."

Evacuation warnings are in place for the Mountain Fire burn area and the Matilija Canyon, Camino Cielo and North Fork communities in Ventura County.

The heavy rain could be extremely problematic for hillside neighborhoods, including much of the massive Eaton Fire burn zone.

In Sierra Madre, residents have been gearing up for possible flooding and debris flows. People living in canyon communities have been filling up sandbags and putting up K-rails.

The heavy rain could be extremely problematic for hillside neighborhoods, including much of the massive Eaton Fire burn zone.

"If we have significant rain over the next week, we can expect more of the same like we had in February where the mud went into my neighbor's homes, blocked the roads and shut the canyon down," said Glenn Lambin, who lives in Sierre Madre.

Some homes are still yellow-tagged as residents work to repair damage from that February 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.