LA gets rains that help fight fires but bring landslide risk

Will Wade and Christopher Charleston, Bloomberg News on Jan 26, 2025

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Parched Los Angeles is getting its first rains in months — wet weather that’s helping battle wildfires but is also introducing the risk of landslides.

Rain was falling on the region Sunday and is expected to get heavier overnight, according to a Sunday afternoon forecast from the National Weather Service. Los Angeles and Ventura counties may get as much as 1.25 inches through Monday, with as much as 2 inches in the mountains.

So far, it’s “good rain,” forecasters said, that will help put out fires that are still burning and will make it harder for any new ones to start. But if the downfall gets much heavier, the seared hillsides that have lost vegetation are at risk of collapse. As of midday local time, LA County was getting as much one-third of an inch per hour, but it could increase to as much as three-fourths of an inch per hour. That may be enough to trigger a landslide, according to Joe Sirard, a meteorologist with the weather service in Los Angeles

“Our main concern is with the recent burn areas,” Sirard said Sunday by phone. “It won’t take much over the fresh burn areas to trigger mud and debris flows.”

This is the first major 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.

Firefighters are making progress as they continue to battle across the region. The Palisades fire that has now charred more than 23,000 acres is 87% contained, according to the California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection, and the Eaton blaze that scorched the community of Altadena is 98% contained. The two blazes have now destroyed more than 16,000 structures. So far, there are 28 confirmed deaths since the flames erupted amid strong winds January 7.

The heaviest rain is expected to start late Sunday afternoon, and the weather service has issued a flood watch for the burn areas of Los Angeles County through Monday afternoon. That may get upgraded to a flood warning if the rain picks up enough.

“Right now it’s not enough to cause a dangerous debris flow,” said Andrew Rorke, a senior forecaster with the weather service in Los Angeles. “It all depends on how fast those amounts come down.”

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