LOS ANGELES — The second in a string of powerful storms battered California on Saturday, shutting key highways after water and mud rushed into lanes from bare hillsides in wildfire burn areas where thousands of residents were under evacuation orders.
Flash flood warnings were issued for huge swaths of Southern California and forecasters said the system brought more than 4 inches of rain at lower elevations and several feet of snow in the mountains, where whiteout conditions closed roads.
A wind gust in Santa Barbara County topped 80 mph as the storm moved south and at one point dropped more than a half-inch of rain in five minutes. Trees and power lines were down across the region.
In Malibu — where the Woolsey fire last year destroyed homes and burned hillsides bare — officials closed Pacific Coast Highway and many other roadways after mud carried trees and rocks into lanes. Residents whose homes survived the flames barricaded their properties with sandbags to protect their properties from floodwaters.
Carol Cavella was evacuated during the November fire and again Saturday when the creek behind her house threatened to overflow and inundate her backyard.
The 86-year-old put her cat in the car and drove to a coffee shop on higher ground, her son-in-law, Warren Bowman said.
“She does not scare easily, but she got a little scared watching that water rise,” Bowman said.
In the Montecito area of Santa Barbara County, several miles of U.S 101, a vital route between Los Angeles and points north and west, were closed because of flooding.
Elsewhere in the county, evacuations were ordered or recommended for neighborhoods near the Thomas, Whittier and Sherpa fire scars.
“This is a dangerous situation,” the National Weather Service said, warning that the high rates of rain could send boulders sluicing down denuded hillsides along with the mud and debris.
It has only been a little over a year since a downpour on the huge Thomas Fire burn scar unleashed a massive debris flow that destroyed or damaged hundreds of homes in the seaside community of Montecito. The disaster killed 21 people, and two others have never been found.
Rescue crews scrambled Saturday to pluck motorists from cars caught in rising waters, said Mike Eliason, a spokesman for the Santa Barbara County Fire Department. He urged drivers who come upon flooded intersections to find alternate routes.
“Turn around. Driving through is going to be a costly error in judgment,” he said. “It’s just not worth it.”
Multiple accidents were reported on slick highways, including a crash on Interstate 5 that killed Jeff Dye, a volunteer member of a sheriff’s search and rescue team, and injured several others.
The team from Ventura County was on its way to a training exercise when members stopped to help at the scene of a single-vehicle rollover crash.
A minivan carrying a family was traveling too fast for the wet conditions, lost control and plowed into members of the team, Los Angeles County fire Capt. Tony Imbrenda said. Nine people were transported to hospitals, including three members of the team.
