The cleanup continued across the Eaton Fire burn area and surrounding communities on Friday after heavy rain pushed a lot of mud off the hillsides.
Laura Aguilar, Deputy City Manager for Sierra Madre, told KNX News’ Jon Baird that Thursday’s storm brought a “significant number of rain” to the area.
“And with that some flash flooding, some of the drivers and residents were not prepared for that amount of rain and in that flash flood, we had some drivers that were stuck in the mud and debris,” she said. “We did have to have our police and fire crews out there rescuing some stranded drivers and from their vehicles in the canyon residential areas on Woodland Avenue near our Mary's Market. We did have a number of vehicles stuck in several feet of mud and debris.”
She said she wasn’t sure how many homes in the area had mud and water get inside.
“We've had some reports of mud and debris flows intruding into the residents onto private properties in the rear areas of their homes,” she said. “We are still assessing the damage and we don't have official numbers as of yet. Our road public works crews are working to clear the roadways, and that's going to be our priority for the next few hours this morning.”
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Mark Patrella, director of L.A. County Public Works, told Baird there were no fatalities reported at this time.
A mandatory evacuation was issued in Sierra Madre early Thursday morning. Aguilar told Baird at the time that a thousand people would be impacted by the evacuation.
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