Los Angeles is getting 'good rain' yet faces risk of landslides
Published in News & Features
Southern California is finally getting some much-needed rain that will assist firefighters still battling several blazes, though wet weather also brings the risk of landslides.
The downpour began Saturday evening. Los Angeles and Ventura counties may get as much as 1.25 inches through Monday, with as much as 2 inches in the mountains, according to the National Weather Service.
That’ll be a relief to a region that hasn’t received significant rainfall since April. The parched hills have helped fuel a series of deadly wildfires that have destroyed thousands of homes and businesses in what’s become one of the worst natural disasters in modern U.S. history.
“Almost all this rain is good rain,” said Andrew Rorke, a senior forecaster with the weather service in Los Angeles.
The area is getting about a quarter-inch of rain per hour now, but that may increase later Sunday. The worst will come starting at about 4 p.m. local time, and rainfall may reach three-quarters of an inch per hour.
The risk of landslides or flooding is greater in places where the vegetation has been burned off. The weather service has issued a flood watch for the burn areas of Los Angeles County.
“Right now it’s not enough to cause a dangerous debris flow,” said Rorke. “It all depends on how fast those amounts come down.”
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