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Wildfire-ravaged communities face a new threat

LOS ANGELES (KTLA) – With the immediate threat of the Palisades and Eaton wildfires over, residents of Altadena, Pasadena, the Pacific Palisades, and Malibu face yet another looming threat from Mother Nature.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom this week signed an executive order directing “fast action” on debris removal to mitigate the likelihood of flooding and mudslides when Southern California receives rain again.

Mark Pestrella, director of Los Angeles County Public Works, says it’s not a question of if — but when.

“Both areas suffered watershed damage and burn to such significance that we expect massive debris inflows when it rains,” Pestrella told reporters at a news conference Thursday morning. “In the event that we have major rain, we do expect that all of the street areas and all the communities will be impacted.”

More than 37,000 acres burned in the Palisades and Eaton fires, mainly along the foothills and slopes of the Santa Monica and San Gabriel mountains.

Wildfire Maps
A CalFire map showing the Palisades and Eaton fire perimeters in Los Angeles County. Jan. 16, 2025. (CalFire)

L.A. County Public Works, Pestrella says, is rushing to develop plans to hold back debris from the vast burn scars while shoring up neighborhood flood control systems.

“I have to give everyone an early warning: we do expect the window to open for rain in the later part of this month,” said Pestrella.

The National Weather Service office in Los Angeles says watershed experts are working closely with the U.S. Forest Service and state and local emergency response teams to get prepared.

“All areas within and downstream of the burned areas will be at risk,” Jayme Labor, senior service hydrologist for the NWS, told KTLA 5 News. He added that a burn scar generally takes five to seven years to recover from a wildfire.

Landslide
A police officer is parked in front of a house previously unscathed by the Palisades fire and now split in half by a landslide in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, on January 16, 2025. (Getty Images)

In 2023, the remnants of Hurricane Hilary dumped heavy rain across Southern California, creating massive mudflows in the San Bernardino Mountains from wildfires that burned three years earlier.

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