A winter storm hit California with rain and snow on Saturday and sent mudslides down hillsides denuded by fall wildfires onto highways, stranding 90 vehicles just north of Los Angeles.
A 20km stretch of the Angeles Crest Highway was shut down as dozens of firefighters tried to clear the scene, said county fire Captain Frank Reynoso. No injuries were reported.
Seventy of the vehicles had been freed on Saturday night, but another 20 would be forced to remain overnight, authorities said.
Authorities issued voluntary evacuation warnings to about 40 homes and major canyon roads remained closed in areas burned by the late-summer Station Fire — the county’s biggest ever wildfire that killed two firefighters, destroyed 89 homes, and ravaged more than 650 square kilometers of Angeles National Forest.
Heavy rain was expected through early yesterday.
To the North, the National Weather Service issued a winter storm watch through last night for western Plumas County and the west slope of the Sierra Nevada in the north and the mountains of Ventura and Los Angeles counties in the south.
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