LOS ANGELES — A fast-moving storm that wreaked havoc in the Bay Area pounded into Southern California early Friday, bringing downpours and triggering rockslides and mud flows that have forced some residents to flee and left others trapped inside their homes.
Flash flood warnings began rolling across Ventura and Los Angeles counties after midnight, when the storm dropped up to 2 inches of rain in an hour on Camarillo Springs, where at least 24 homes had been damaged by mud flows.
The homes were flooded with mud, rocks and debris as the hill behind them came down in the early morning hours. All residents were evacuated and bulldozers and tractors were brought in to clear the area, officials said.
John Calka and his wife, Connie, said authorities awakened them in their home about 2 a.m. when rocks started rolling down their street.
He said the slide occurred in the same place that the ground had given way on Halloween.
“The rocks were 2 feet in diameter … moving in the middle of the street. We just kind of watched,” he said.
The couple and their golden retriever, Jake, were evacuated to the recreation center in their community, which is for residents 55 and older. They said they had moved into the house earlier this year and didn’t expect the flooding.
“This is a great place to live. What caused all this is the fire,” John Calka said, referring to a 2013 blaze that scorched nearby hillsides.
Ventura County Sheriff’s Department officials said they were bracing for more heavy rain in burn areas later in the morning.
Capt. Don Aguilar said that 124 homes were under an evacuation order and that deputies had to help some people out of homes partially buried or blocked by mud.
Elsewhere, officials were monitoring other burn areas-such as those affected by the Silverado fire in Orange County, the Cocos fire in San Diego County and the Mountain fire in Riverside County-where the National Weather Service said flash floods and mud flows were likely.
Mandatory evacuations were also ordered along Ridgeview Drive in Azusa.
The hazardous storm kept Bill Patzert awake in the foothills of Sierra Madre.
“It was fast and furious,” said the climatologist for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “It was really hard, like somebody pulled the plug and it all came down.”
Coming during a month notorious for Santa Ana winds, the storm, combined with rainfall last week, had probably tamped down the danger of massive windswept fires, for the immediate future, Patzert said.
“December is the biggest month for Santa Anas, so we don’t have to worry about a big fire. That’s off the table for now,” he said.
As of 4:30 a.m. PST, National Weather Service radar showed a long, thin band of rain and wind moving through the Los Angeles Basin, from Pasadena south through Los Angeles and into Long Beach. Wind gusts were clocked as high as 71 mph. The rainfall rate was half an inch to 1 inch an hour, according to the weather service.
The wind and rain caused some power outages and knocked down trees across the region.
The L.A. County Fire Department warned residents: “Do not underestimate moving water, do not underestimate mud flows, and do not underestimate downed power lines.”
On Thursday, county fire and emergency management officials said they were taking “extreme precautions” regarding the storm, adding staff for search-and-rescue teams, putting bulldozers on standby to clear downed trees and offering free sandbags at county fire stations.
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