Hundreds of people living below fire-ravaged mountains were ordered to leave their homes Wednesday as another Pacific storm moved toward southern California following two powerful storms that flooded coastal communities, created a tornado, and killed one person. Los Angeles County and city authorities issued mandatory evacuation orders ahead of the approaching storm, saying residents of more than 600 homes must leave their homes before the storm's expected midday arrival. The homes are in communities in the foothills and canyons below the San Gabriel Mountains, where more than 650 square kilometers of forest burned away last summer, and public-safety officials warned that low-elevation areas designed to capture debris-laden runoff water were full after two days of rain. The National Weather Service (NWS) said the new storm would have gusts up to 100 kilometers per hour (kph) along the southern California coast and valleys and up to 130 kph at higher elevations, while dropping up to 4 centimeters of rain per hour. Up to 12.5 centimeters of rain was forecast throughout the day for some mountain areas, forecasters said. Warnings for coastal flooding, strong wind, snow, and high surf were posted for much of California's coast, but the main concern was for the southern part of the state, where vast areas burned by wildfires in the past two years have left landscapes without vegetation that normally would capture or slow rain runoff.
