Evacuation warnings and orders are in place for Los Angeles County ahead of the storm, the recent burn areas like the Palisades and Eaton fire zones.
Los Angeles County officials hosted a press conference Tuesday morning, urging residents to follow any warnings and orders and to leave early if they’ve been told to evacuate.
“When we’re talking about evacuation orders, that means that we have determined, as a team, primarily Public Works, that there’s an immediate danger, or a potential immediate danger, to your safety and the safety of your family,” said L.A. County Sheriff Robert Luna. “If we’re talking about evacuation warnings, that’s a potential warning. You need to pay attention to both.”
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna speaks at a news conference on Tuesday, December 23, as evacuation warnings and orders were issued ahead of a powerful Christmas week storm.
Mark Pestrella, the director of L.A. County Public Works, said there’s going to be a lot of rain over a short period of time, so many areas are being closely monitored.
“We haven’t had an atmospheric event like this in some time, probably more than four or five years now,” he said. “These events do produce high quantities of water … so the basin is going to attempt to drain a lot of water in a short period of time.”
Pestrella said the heaviest rain is expected Tuesday night through Wednesday morning and again on Christmas Day.
“We’ve identified over the last year vulnerable properties … some 383 properties are considered needing evacuation,” he said when discussing evacuation warnings and orders. “We also have an additional 200 orders going out to city areas.”
Director of Los Angeles County Public Works Mark Pestrella speaks at a news conference on Tuesday, December 23, as evacuation warnings and orders were issued ahead of a powerful Christmas week storm.
A flood watch will be in effect from Tuesday afternoon through Thursday evening for much of the county, with mud and debris flows possible across foothill and mountain areas, including recent burn scars, according to the National Weather Service.
The city of Los Angeles issued evacuation warnings that will be in effect from 11 a.m. Tuesday through 11 p.m. Thursday for residents of Pacific Palisades and Mandeville Canyon near the Palisades Fire, and south of Runyon Canyon near the Sunset Fire area.
City News Service, Inc. contributed to this report.