Mudslide engulfs cars and flows through homes prompting evacuation in Orange County

A California county where wildfires spread through thousands of acres is getting rain, and it’s causing intense mudslides.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Office issued a mandatory evacuation order Wednesday morning after mudslides swept through Silverado Canyon. Modjeska and Williams Canyon are also under mandatory evacuation orders.

Mud flowed through at least six homes Wednesday, according to the Orange County Fire Authority. Officials rescued four people trapped in their homes.

The mudslide pushed and engulfed cars in the area, ABC 7 reported. Two Teslas and a Mercedes Benz AMG GT were caught in the mud, according to NBC Los Angeles.

Some roads were also unusable and could be shut down for hours, according to the Orange County Public Works department.

No injuries have been reported, and there has been no other damage, according to ABC 7. There are homes at the base of the hillside in the canyon, NBC Los Angeles reported.

Half an inch of rain fell in the area overnight and into the morning, according to The Weather Channel. More rain is expected Thursday, NBC Los Angeles reported.

Orange County was scorched by the Bond wildfire in December, burning thousands of acres, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Wildfires can make an area more vulnerable to landslides when rain comes through, geologists said in new research. In California, post-wildfire landslides are becoming more frequent, according to geologists.

“The reason you can expect one just about every year is because it doesn’t take very much rain to cause one,” Jason Kean, a hydrologist at the U.S. Geological Survey, said in a news release. “The rainstorms that can trigger debris flows — they’re kind of garden-variety storms.”

This story was originally published March 10, 2021 at 11:04 AM.