This weekend, I stood on a bluff in the Palisades where houses used to be. Los Angeles rose to my left, and the sky had the dramatic clouds we get in the winter when it rains, as it has for a few weeks. The hillsides have turned to Irish green, but the burn scar, below, is still black. Twice, when my family drove past during the holidays, our phones blared with evacuation alerts for possible mudslides and flooding.
Both Tejon Pass rest areas, off I-5 northbound and southbound, closed Friday due to storm damage, "including accumulation of sediment and wastewater into the facilities' water supply," Caltrans wrote on social media. There is currently no timeline for when the rest stops will reopen. "We have a contractor ... doing some damage scoping to get an idea of the extent," Christian Lukens, a Caltrans spokesperson, told SFGATE on Monday. "We're hoping to have the contractor start later today or sometime tomorrow."
The heaviest part of a storm system that pummeled the Los Angeles area and other parts of the southland subsided somewhat by Christmas morning, but showers are expected throughout the day, locally heavy at times, with continued risk of mudslides in the recent burn areas including from the Palisades and Eaton fires. The forecast and heavy rains prompted L.A. Mayor Karen Bass to issue a declaration of emergency.
A cataclysmic storm rolled into San Bernardino County on Thursday, trapping highway drivers in mudslides and triggering rescue operations throughout the area, including an ongoing search for a 2-year-old boy. The National Weather Service issued its first flash flood warning for the San Bernardino Mountains, which includes towns like Oak Glen and Lake Arrowhead, at 2:13 p.m. and lasted until 8 p.m., meteorologist Ashley Nickerson told SFGATE.
A late summer storm system that brought heavy rain to parts of the Southland triggered mudslides in San Bernardino and washed away a vehicle in the Inland Empire, triggering a frantic search for a 2-year-old boy. Relatives are asking for help finding Xavier Padilla, who was swept away in the floodwaters around 6:30 p.m. Thursday near Main Street in Barstow when he was in the car with his father, Brandon, according to KABC.
