As a Pacific storm descended Tuesday night on Southern California, residents waited nervously to see whether rainfall would trigger mudslides in wildfire-ravaged areas.
People stacked sandbags and positioned heavy concrete barriers against hillsides, transforming their homes into fortified bunkers.
The storm system was first expected to dump 3 to 6 inches of rain in wildfire-charred areas in Los Angeles County. But the National Weather Service said that the system had weakened Tuesday afternoon after battering Northern California with heavy rainfall, and that L.A. County mountain areas would receive up to 4 inches of rain. About half an inch of rain was expected in valleys and along the coast.
By Tuesday night, less than two-tenths of an inch of rain had fallen in coastal and valley areas in L.A. County, and about 1 1/2 inches had fallen in the Angeles National Forest, according to the weather service.
Still, officials and residents had prepared for the worst.
The Los Angeles County Fire Department said Tuesday that it had beefed up stations in the foothill areas with additional firefighters to staff two-person units that would patrol areas prone to mudslides.
Big Tujunga Canyon Road was closed 1 1/2 miles north of Mount Gleason Avenue to Angeles Forest Highway. And Aliso Canyon Road was closed in the Angeles National Forest, the California Highway Patrol said.
The Pacific storm was being pushed by strong winds blowing from the south, which were expected to intensify rainfall on south-facing mountain slopes that burned from Altadena to Acton during the 160,000-acre Station fire that broke out in August.
Winds were expected to reach 35 to 40 mph, with gusts as high as 60 mph, according to the weather service.
More than 30,000 customers were left without power in Los Angeles. By Tuesday night, power had been restored to about 20,000 people, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power said.
In the Bay Area, the storm caused power outages and flooding. Officials in Santa Cruz County, meanwhile, ordered homes evacuated in mountain areas where summer wildfires had burned.
The California Independent System Operator, which oversees the state's electricity grid, declared an emergency Tuesday afternoon after strong winds knocked down a major transmission line in Moss Landing, in Monterey County. The amount of electricity flowing on the line, a major north-south connection, was reduced by about one-third.
