Nov. 30 (UPI) -- Strong rains, floods and mudslides have hit areas of California where a ravaging wildfire this month killed dozens, forcing weather-related evacuations and a highway closure.
The storm poured more than an inch of rain into Butte County in a short period of time, forcing officials to evacuate residents east of Chico. A flash-flood warning was issued for the Camp Fire burn area and Chico police handled numerous reports of downed trees and power lines caused by the storm.
"It is serious," Butte County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Brad Meyer said in a report from NBC News. He added that a raft was needed to reach residents of 12 homes in the flooding area.
"The water is coming up, so we want to make sure we get everybody out that we can," he said.
In Southern California, some homes in Malibu were evacuated and roadways closed due to mudslides.
"We don't know yet how bad it is, how wide it is, or how extensive it is," Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department spokesman Matt Myerhoff told the Los Angeles Daily News. "We just know that it happened, so we evacuated the immediate area."
Mud flows trapped some drivers in the San Bernardino area, as heavy rains fell in places in Riverside and Orange counties that were burned by fires this year, the Press-Enterprise reported.
Authorities had ordered mandatory evacuations in unincorporated areas south of Corona, near Los Angeles in anticipation of the storm.
Forecasters this week predicted some 30 inches of snow in the Sierra Nevadas, along California's border with Nevada, while state officials planned to close portions of the scenic Pacific Coast Highway because of the potential of mudslides.
