"This is going to be unbelievable"

From this morning’s OC Register: Canyon residents urged to evacuate:

.....Canyon residents are being urged to leave their homes this afternoon as Orange County braces for what is expected to be the largest in a wave of storms that has walloped much of Southern California this week, soaking fire-scorched hillsides and turning streets into rivers.
.....With even more rain and snow preparing to batter an already water-logged Southern California, public works crews went into damage-control mode Friday, racing to shore up canyon hillsides saturated by two heavy storms that pummeled the region this week.
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.....Facing grim weather predictions, county officials will order voluntary evacuations for thousands of residents living in canyon areas affected by fire and are in danger of mudslides and debris flows beginning at noon today, said Capt. Mike Blawn of the Orange County Fire Authority. Voluntary evacuations will be ordered for Modjeska, Santiago, Silverado, Harding and Williams canyons. Residents with special medical needs as well as large animals in those areas will be under mandatory evacuation orders.
.....Evacuations for residents could become mandatory if the National Weather Service issues a flash-flood warning.


.....Even with the warnings, it is unclear how many people will choose to leave their canyon homes. During one of the last evacuations that residents faced, only 90 people are believed to have left the canyons.
.....“Our fear is that people will become numb to these notices and look at us like the boy who cried wolf,” Blawn said. “But what we want them to remember is that in the end, the wolf came.”
.....County emergency officials huddled at a strategy session Friday afternoon, preparing for a wintry blast that weather forecasters are predicting could drop as much as 8 inches of rain in nine hours. Expected to arrive in Orange County this afternoon, the rain is forecast to pick up around 9 p.m., with the heaviest downpours expected to hit between midnight and 3 a.m., dropping between an inch to 1.25 inches an hour, said Dan Atkin, a weather service forecaster.
.....“If the weather patterns holds, this is going to be unbelievable,” Blawn said.
.....Heavier-than-expected rains drenched Orange County early Friday, making the soil mushy.
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.....County repair crews raced to bolster unstable hillsides behind several Modjeska Canyon homes after rains caused small amounts of mud and debris to come cascading down overnight Wednesday. Crews worked to clean up the mess and put up barriers behind a handful of Modjeska Canyon properties, hoping to prevent more severe slides, Blawn said.
.....Extra search-and-rescue crews and road-clearing equipment will be on standby overnight tonight, bracing for the worst-case weather picture and should the forecasted rains cause mud and debris to come crashing down into canyon homes.