Officials prepare for mudslides as heavy rain moves across L.A. region

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Jonah Lavin, 19, and girlfriend Sascha Spiegel 18, enjoy sledding at Big Bear Snow Play. (Francine Or / Los Angeles Times)

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The umbrellas were out as people made their way along Broadway in downtown Los Angeles as a rainstorm lingered over Southern California. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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Visitors to the Huntington Beach Pier watch the crashing waves during the rainstorm passing through Southern California. (Cheryl A. Guerrero / Los Angeles Times)

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Mud flows down Ridge View Drive in Azusa. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Bob Morales of the Los Angeles County Fire Department checks out landslide damage to a house on Ridge View Drive in Azusa. (Irfan Khan /Los Angeles Times)

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Tony Ramirez places sandbags in front of his home on Ridge View Drive in Azusa. (Irfan Khan /Los Angeles Times)

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A car maneuvers down a flooded street as a passing storm is reflected in the water in El Segundo. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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A break in the rain brought people out to exercise in Santa Monica. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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A lone visitor to a Venice skateboard park walks against a stormy sky at dusk. (Genaro Molina /Los Angeles Times)

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The Chess Park at the Santa Monica Pier is flooded after overnight rain. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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Lorenzo Tatone wades through floodwater to help a neighbor on Ridgeview Drive in Azusa. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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Caltrans personnel monitor the flow of Calleguas Creek under a bridge on Pacific Coast Highway near Point Mugu. (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

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Brandon Doyle, left, and Shanell Holmes get a close-up view of the fast-moving floodwater at Thurman Flat in the San Bernardino National Forest. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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Arseniy Kalistratoe, 6, left, his mother, Julia, his sister, Uliana, 2, and his father, Andre, stroll in their rain gear on the Seal Beach Pier. (Cheryl A. Guerrero / Los Angeles Times)

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Flooding forced residents on Lake Hughes Road in Castaic to evacuate their homes. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

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A pedestrian makes her way through an afternoon downpour along Washington Boulevard in Culver City. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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One person was killed when a big rig lost control on a rain-slicked ramp from the 10 Freeway to the 215 Freeway in Colton, Calif. The body was found near the 10 Freeway below. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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Kalli Tice watches as mud is removed from Rainbow Drive and Sierra Avenue. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Federico Vergara, of Wurstkuche Restaurant, stands ankle-deep in water as he tries to remove debris blocking a drain on South Hewitt Street in the Arts District of Los Angeles. (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

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Rainwater flows into a flood basin above Easely Canyon Estate in Glendora. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Dennis Sanderson trudges through water and flowing mud as he tries to keep drains clear behind his home and those of others on Ridge View Drive in Azusa. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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A pedestrian walks in the rain past a mural on South Hewitt Street in the Arts District of Los Angeles in February. (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

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A crew clears mud and debris at Hicrest Road and Sierra Madre Avenue in Glendora. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Dennis Madvig, who lives on top of Hicrest Road, watches mud and debris flow down the street in Glendora. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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A Los Angeles County flood control truck monitors North Glendora Avenue. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Ed Heinlein prepares to evacuate his Azusa home due to danger of landslides. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Firefighters visit Azusa’s Ridge View Drive, which is under mandatory evacuation orders. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Ed Heinlein, right, talks to a fire crew about landslide dangers behind his home in Azusa. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Mary Gunckel carries out belongings from her sandbagged home in Glendora. (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

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Doug Burke of Newport Beach is viewed through raindrops on the Huntington Beach Pier as he videos his son surfing big waves during the first of two storms to hit Southern California. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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A beach walker uses a metal detector to search for treasures in Huntington Beach amid stormy skies, high tide and high surf during the first of two storms to hit Southern California. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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Temporary barriers are installed along Lorain Avenue in Glendora. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Residents watch the installation of temporary barriers along Lorain Avenue in Glendora. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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A crew installs K-rails along Lorain Avenue to thwart a potential mudslide in Glendora. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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A Los Angeles County flood control crew observes Easley Canyon flood control dam in Glendora. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Clouds shroud the Angeles National Forest after a morning rainstorm on Thursday. (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

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Robert Ramirez Jr., 8, left, uses his jacket to shield himself and his 4-year-old sister, Jasmine, 4, from the rain during a visit to Ventura Harbor on Wednesday. Their parents, Robert Ramirez Sr. and Vicki Gonzalez, walk behind them. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

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Barbara Albanese fills sandbags at the Glendora City Yard. Glendora officials Wednesday called for voluntary evacuations in the Colby fire burn area ahead of two winters storms expected to douse the region. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Jack Watson carries heavy sandbags from the Glendora City Yard. Glendora residents from the Colby fire burn area collected sandbags Wednesday to protect their homes from the possibility of flash flooding. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Alvaro Sanchez, left, Jack Watson and Salvador Segura fill sandbags at Glendora City Yard. Meteorologists from the National Weather Service in Oxnard warned of the risk of mudslides and debris flows from the burn area. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Gray skies hover over the L.A. skyline. A Pacific storm began to drizzle across the Los Angeles area Wednesday night after dropping an inch or more in Northern California. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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The view from the Hollywod Bowl Overlook on Mulholland Drive shows gray skies enveloping the Los Angeles area Wednesday. Two storm systems this week could cause mudslides in burn areas and lead to high winds, thunderstorms and big waves along the coast, the National Weather Service said. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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From the Hollywood Bowl Overlook on Mulholland Drive, the Los Angeles skyline appears surrounded by gray skies. Experts said Wednesday the wet weather is not expected to do much to alleviate drought conditions in Southern California because the rain will be soaked up by dry soil before percolating into the ground. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

By Ari Bloomekatz and Joseph Serna

Feb. 28, 2014 5:27 AM PT

The second of two winter storms this week delivered on a promise of heavy rainfall as it moved across the region Friday, and hundreds of residents waited to see if their homes would escape feared mudslides within mandatory evacuation zones below the San Gabriel Mountains.

The strongest rain was expected later in the morning through Friday afternoon as a cold front makes landfall, producing more unstable weather, said Kathy Hoxsie of the National Weather Service in Oxnard.

The region has already seen significant rainfall overnight. Between 4 a.m. Thursday and 4 a.m. Friday, most areas in Los Angeles County had seen half an inch or more of rain. In parts of Ventura County, the rain was heavier.

“We just went out and checked our bucket, and just since midnight we’ve had 1.33 inches, so it’s pretty crazy,” Hoxsie said.

Anticipating heavy runoff, officials have been scrambling for days to prepare for possible mudslides in areas left bare by recent wildfires.

Up to 1,000 homes in the area affected by the Colby fire in Azusa and Glendora are under a mandatory evacuation order amid fears that mud and debris could inundate their homes. The Glendora Police Department urged residents to leave, warning that they faced “injury and/or death.”

In Glendora, residents north of Sierra Madre Avenue between Yucca Ridge Road and Glendora Mountain Road must evacuate. In Azusa, the order applies to residents on Ridge View Drive. Both areas are situated below the Colby fire burn area, which denuded hillsides of rock- and dirt-holding vegetation.

In January, the wildfire burned 1,900 acres and destroyed five homes and damaged seven others.

In 1969, massive muslides that came after a wildfire the year before destroyed 200 homes and killed 34 people.

Glendora City Manager Chris Jeffers said the risk is greater now, noting that there are 70% to 80% more structures in the danger zone than in 1969 and that 90% of the hillside vegetation was burned.

Keenly aware of that disaster, workers have been erecting barriers to direct the flow of any mud and debris that comes down from the Colby fire burn area. In Glendora, the vulnerable area is about a three-mile stretch from the city’s western border to Loraine Avenue.

Most residents in the Glendora and Azusa evacuation zones cleared out Thursday during a midday break between the two storms. That group included Chris Grattan, 35 and his wife and their two young daughters.

“I feel like we’ll be OK, but ... you’d feel kind of foolish if something did happen,” he said as he packed the family minivan.

But others decided to defy the orders, fortifying their homes in the hopes of riding out the storm.

Tony Ramirez, 71, said he and and his son picked up two truckloads of sandbags Wednesday night. He was up at 5 a.m. Thursday and headed to Home Depot to buy plywood. Then he built barriers to try to channel mud and water away from his home.

After that, it was time for a grocery run: Bread, fruit and two containers of Ben & Jerry’s Cherry Garcia ice cream.

“I got four one-gallon jugs of white wine in the garage,” he added. “I don’t know if it’s good.”

Ramirez said that if he and his dog, Cookie, cannot ride out the storm with his supplies, he parked his truck nearby just in case he needs to escape.

ari.bloomekatz@latimes.com

joseph.serna@latimes.com