LOS ANGELES, Dec. 2 (UPI) -- Southern Californians living under hillsides stripped bare by wildfires prepared for mudslides Tuesday as a rainstorm began.
Much of the Los Angeles area was under a flash flood watch set to expire at 6 a.m. Wednesday, the National Weather Service said. Local officials posted voluntary evacuation orders for areas in Glendora in Los Angeles County, Camarillo in Ventura County to the north and Silverado Canyon south of the city.
A portion of the Pacific Coast Highway remained closed because of a mudslide Sunday.
In Glendora, local officials said they were well prepared with 12,000 sandbags already filled.
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"The system is up and running and the debris basins are cleaned out so that we have the ability to handle anything that is coming our way," Bob Spencer,a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works, told KABC-TV.
Tuesday's storm was expected to be the heaviest of the current season, Andrew Rorke of the National Weather Service said. Forecasters predicted half a foot or more of rain in some mountain areas.
"It's just a big ol' storm. The entire state is going to be covered with rain today," Rorke told the Los Angeles Times.
Frank Zelinski, 82, lives in a neighborhood in Camarillo that was drenched with mud in November. He and his wife have created their own system of drainage and walls to guard against slides, but he told the Times they were planning to stay with a daughter Monday and Tuesday nights.
"It's tiring from the standpoint of not knowing what's going to happen and when and it all depending on the amount of rain we get," he said.
