Los Angeles

Flash Flood Warning Issued for Mountain Burn Areas in Northeast LA County

A flash flooding warning was issued for mountain burn areas northeast of Los Angeles as another round of wet weather arrived in California.

Flash flood warnings were issued early Thursday afternoon for the Fish and Reservoir burn areas in the San Gabriel Mountains northeast of Los Angeles. The warning, indicating that mud and debris flows are possible, was in effect until about 4 p.m.

Showers arrived overnight and soaked the region through Thursday morning. This one last impulse from the "atmospheric river" that has flooded northern and central parts of California will bring significantly less rainfall to the region – San Bernardino should expect the highest amount at 0.82 inches. An estimated 0.57 inches should drench Los Angeles, 0.57 inches in Valencia, 0.23 in Malibu and 0.54 inches in Temecula, according to NBC4 Forecaster Fritz Coleman.

Previous rainfall has left the ground and infrastructure saturated, so there is still a threat of street flooding during the Thursday morning commute. Thursday's rainfall could also trigger mud and debris flows in recent burn areas across Los Angeles County. 

Part of Laurel Canyon Boulevard was shut down Wednesday afternoon and into Thursday after a home's concrete foundation fell down a hillside in the Hollywood Hills. The home was red-tagged and there was significant traffic backup on the well-traveled road that links the San Fernando Valley and Hollywood.

A large tree fell onto a train on the southbound tracks of the Metro Gold Line between the Fillmore and South Pasadena stations in Pasadena Thursday morning, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Transit Policing Division. Northbound tracks could still be used, so Metro Gold Line service continued by alternating trains using the northbound track. A bus service was also implemented to speed up delays caused by the incident.

The much colder storm is expected to bring snow to the Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara mountains. The much colder storm will bring snow levels four to eight inches above 5,500 feet Thursday morning. On Thursday night, the snow level will drop one to two inches about 3,500 feet. Snowfall near the Grapevine near Interstate 5 could cause delays or closures and motorists should prepare for winter driving conditions.

Rim of the World Unified School District, which includes five schools located near Lake Arrowhead, cancelled classes Thursday due to the snow.

Beachside communities were also preparing for another day of potential flooding from the king tides, which is a predictable high tide event that occurs when there is an alignment of the gravitational pull between the sun and the moon. Tides are expected to peak up to 7 feet high.

Thursday's highs will be near 50 to the low 60s in the desert, the coast, downtown Los Angeles and the valleys. The mountains will have temperatures up to the 30s.

The weekend in Southern California will be partly cloudy and dry with normal temperatures.

The series of storms, produced by a converyor belt of moisture called an atmospheric river, caused flooding and led to evacuations in some parts of California.

State officials opened a Sacramento dam for the first time in more than a decade and thousands of people remain under evacuation orders in Sonoma County as stormy weather continues to lash Northern California and Nevada. Engineers opened several of the Sacramento Weir's gates early Tuesday.

A series of storms already has added 33 billion gallons of water to Lake Tahoe since Jan. 1.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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