Evacuations Orders for Holy Fire Burn Areas in Riverside County Downgraded to Voluntary

Evacuations ordered in areas affected by the destructive Holy Fire in Riverside County were downgraded from mandatory to voluntary on Monday after the first in a series of winter storms began pounding the Southland. The evacuations ordered at 7 a.m. Monday and include the neighborhoods of Amorose, Alberhill, Glen Ivy A, Glen Ivy B, Glen Eden, Grace, Horsethief A, Laguna A, Matri, McVicker A, Rice and Withrow A. “We had a clubhouse meeting and they told us the mudslides could come down the hill at 40 miles per hour and that’s very scary. It’s dangerous,” Mary Lou Peralta, who lives in an evacuation zone, told KTLA. Residents are asked to visit RivCoReady.org/StormReady for more information about the orders. A voluntary evacuation warning was also issued for the Holy Fire burn areas in Orange County, according to the Sheriff’s Department there, though the heaviest rainfall in those areas was expected Monday afternoon through 7 p.m. A flash flood watch remains in effect until noon Monday in Orange County, Riverside County valleys and mountains, as well as the Inland Empire. Areas that were scorched during the Holy Fire last August are susceptible to debris flow. A second storm is forecasted for Tuesday afternoon and is expected to bring an inch or so of rain to the region, according to the National Weather Service. The third and final weather system is expected for Wednesday night into Thursday.