First The Fires, and Then The Mud

The hillsides of several Southern California counties have barely cooled from the flames of October and November, and now they're about to get pounded by the strongest storm of this new rainy season. Given that we had only 3 inches all of last season (July 1-June 30), this storm could be significant since some of the foothill areas may get almost that much rain in the next 24 hours. The folks who were evacuated during the fires are now being chased out again:

LOS ANGELES -- With a storm bearing down on the Southland, residents of about 1,000 homes in fire-denuded Modjeska, Williams and Silverado canyons were under a voluntary evacuation order Thursday, set to become mandatory at 8 p.m., officials said.

The residents of about 1,000 homes in the three canyons had been told they would have to be out of their homes by 5 p.m., but that was pushed back to 8 p.m., said Jim Amormino of the Orange County Sheriff's Department.

"The reason is, people work until 5 p.m.," Amormino said. "That will give them three hours to get to their homes, gather belongings and leave again. Once they leave they will not be allowed to return until the mandatory evacuation order is lifted."

These evacuations are occurring just a few miles from where I live. Those folks up in the canyons have really been through it this Fall.

UPDATE: The forecasters really missed this one. The storm fizzled with little more than light rain and certainly nothing that's likely to cause any major mudslides.