A powerful storm is pummeling California, bringing heavy rains that could help to counter the high winds fueling a fast-growing wildfire in the Sierra Nevada mountains, but they could also unleash dangerous flooding and landslides further south, where previous fires have stripped vegetation.
There were apocalyptic scenes overnight as the Pack Fire, burning near the popular Mammoth Mountain ski resort in Mono County damaged at least 15 homes.
Mandatory evacuation orders were in effect for at least two communities threatened by the Pack Fire in Mono County, which, according to the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, was zero percent contained and burning across 3,400 acres on Friday morning.
Mammoth Lakes Police Department via AP
Many more areas were under evacuation warnings, meaning people who required more time to escape were advised to do so immediately.
The Pack Fire exploded late Thursday night in the eastern Sierra Nevada mountains, destroying more than a dozen homes as it spread quickly thanks to high winds from an atmospheric river. Conditions were so bad that crews grounded all firefighting aircraft overnight.
Heavy rainfall coming in with the storm off the Pacific could help crews gain control over the blaze on Friday, and scientists say the moisture laden storm could even bring an end to California’s fire season, but in the south of the state, many residents were concerned about potential mudslides in burn scar areas.
Some 23 million people were under flood watches across California on Friday morning.
Jessica Christian/San Francisco Chronicle/Getty 
Officials are worried that hillsides charred by the devastating wildfires in Southern California early this year, left with no foliage to hold soil in place, could give way under significant rainfall.
The weather system pushed through some parts of California on Thursday, flooding roads and downing trees.
“It’s basically like a river,” Sierra Madre resident Gary Kelly said of the deluge. “Just pouring down when it’s like an inch in an hour.”
Kelly lives in the Eaton Fire burn scar area near Pasadena. His neighborhood has been put on notice for a heavy risk of flash flooding, so he was busy on Thursday preparing for the worst.
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For Kelly and others in the community, the scenes of devastation from flooding and landslides unleashed by storms in February, right after the wildfires, are still fresh on the mind.
“Anytime you have fire that’s spread through the hills, and then you have rain, a lot of that mud will come down, so that’s what I think everyone’s worried about,” he said.
This storm could deliver the Los Angeles area its wettest November in 40 years. Officials in the county have encouraged people to map out evacuation routes in the most vulnerable areas, including Malibu, where there could be intense mud flows and flooding.
