Although rains are expected to subside Sunday evening into Monday, flash-flood and mudslide risks for the wildfire burn scar areas will persist through Monday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service.
The rainstorm’s center is expected to move over L.A. County on Monday, creating a risk of intense, localized rainfall throughout the day. Ahead of the storm, the National Weather Service issued flood watches for the Palisades, Eaton, Hughes, Franklin and Bridge fire burn scars.
High-intensity rain — more than half an inch per hour — can wreak havoc on burned areas, increasing the likelihood of flooding and landslides on soil made water-repellent by fire.
At a town hall Sunday, officials told those affected by the Palisades fire that the county Department of Public Works had installed 15,000 K-rail barriers and 50,000 sandbags in the burn area to protect properties and the environment. The Los Angeles Fire Department was working to remove mud that had accumulated on Palisades Drive on Sunday evening.
The flood watches are set to expire at 4 p.m. Monday.
Rain across the region has been extremely variable, with parts of Los Angeles receiving more than an inch of rain by 7 p.m. Sunday and other areas receiving less than a tenth of that, according to the National Weather Service.
A National Weather Service station at Eaton Dam, near the Eaton fire burn scar, recorded 0.13 of an inch of rain. A Monte Nido station — in the Santa Monica Mountains near the Palisades fire burn scar — recorded 0.55 of an inch.
Mountains in Greater Los Angeles had received 1 to 5 inches of snow by Sunday morning, and a National Weather Service spokesperson said the Oxnard office was aware of social media reports of hail near Ventura.
Here are the National Weather Service rainfall totals for the last 48 hours as of 7 p.m. Sunday:
Metropolitan
- Monte Nido: 0.55 of an inch
- Bel Air: 0.93
- Culver City: 0.20
- Beverly Hills: 0.82
- Hollywood Reservoir: 0.84
- South Gate: 0.29
- La Habra Heights: 0.31
Valleys
- Agoura: 0.33 of an inch
- Chatsworth Reservoir: 0.66
- Canoga Park: 0.59
- Sepulveda Canyon: 0.89
- Hansen Dam: 0.87
- Newhall-Soledad School: 0.55
- Saugus: 0.41
- Del Valle: 0.61
San Gabriel Valley
- L.A. City College: 0.39 of an inch
- Eagle Rock Reservoir: 0.55
- Eaton Wash at Loftus Drive: 0.39
- Mt. Olive High School: 0.52
- Eaton Dam: 0.13
- Puddingstone Diversion Dam: 0.87
- Santa Fe Dam: 0.37
- Whittier Hills: 0.38
- Claremont: 0.48
