San Bernardino County firefighters said they rescued people trapped in their cars when mud and debris rushed down a road leading into Wrightwood, a mountain resort town in the San Gabriel Mountains about 80 miles (130 kilometers) northeast of Los Angeles. It was not immediately clear how many were rescued.<\/p>\n
Firefighters also went door to door to check on residents, and the area was under a shelter-in-place order, officials said. Lytle Creek, also in the San Gabriel Mountains, was under evacuation orders in the afternoon as rains continued to pummel the area.<\/p>\n
Debris and mud were seen cascading down a road in Wrightwood in a video posted by county fire officials. Another video showed fast-moving water rushing through the front porch of several homes.<\/p>\n
The storm stranded Dillan Brown with his wife and 14-month-old daughter at a rented cabin in Wrightwood with almost no food and only enough diapers for about another day. By the morning, roads leading off the mountain and to a grocery store were blocked by rocks and debris, Brown said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Stay up to date with the news and the best of AP by following our WhatsApp channel.<\/p>\n \u201cI came across (a road) where there was a car sucked away by the water and realized we were trapped here,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n A resident learned of his situation and posted a call for help in a Facebook group, and in less than an hour, neighbors showed up with more than enough supplies to ride out the storm, including bread, vegetables, milk, diapers and wipes.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we\u2019re a little sad and upset that we\u2019re not going to be home with our families,\u201d Brown said, but the \u201ckindness shown is definitely an overwhelming feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n Janice Quick, president of the Wrightwood Chamber of Commerce and a resident of the mountain town for 45 years, said a wildfire in 2024 left much of the terrain without tree coverage and \u201call this rain is bringing down a lot of debris and a lot of mud from the mountain area.\u201d <\/p>\n Residents around the burn scar zones from the Airport Fire<\/a> in Orange County were also ordered to evacuate.<\/p>\n Areas along the coast including Malibu were under flood warnings until the evening, and much of the Sacramento Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area were also under wind and flood advisories.<\/p>\n Heavy rain douses Southern California<\/p>\n Several roadways including a part of Interstate 5 near the Burbank Airport were closed due to flooding.<\/p>\n Conditions could worsen with multiple atmospheric rivers<\/a> during one of the busiest travel weeks of the year. <\/p>\n The rain began tapering off in the evening in Los Angeles, but another storm system was on the horizon with showers and possible thunderstorms Christmas Day.<\/p>\n James Dangerfield, an 84-year-old resident of Altadena, said his family and neighbor helped place sandbags in his backyard earlier this week. A flash flood warning was issued for the neighborhood, but he wasn\u2019t too worried because his house is on a hill.<\/p>\n He and his wife, Stephanie, planned to remain there and spend Christmas Eve with their two adult daughters and grandchildren.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re just going to stay put, and everybody will have to come to us,\u201d Dangerfield said. \u201cWe\u2019re not going to go anywhere.\u201d <\/p>\n
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