AccuWeather meteorologist Brandon Buckingham said: "The fast-moving runoff can pick up rocks, mud, ash and debris, quickly turning into a debris flow that can race downhill with little warning, taking out homes, vehicles and roads along the way.”

People living in the Palisades Fire burn zone are on alert with the incoming storm prompting evacuation and flood warnings, as well as road closures.

Several days of rain and powerful wind gusts are in the forecast this week when a winter storm has already led to evacuation warnings in parts of Los Angeles County settles into Southern California for the holiday.

The California Highway Patrol reported a seemingly weather-related crash south of Sacramento in which a Sacramento sheriff’s deputy died. James Caravallo, who was with the agency for 19 years, was apparently traveling at an unsafe speed, lost control on a wet road and crashed into a power pole, CHP Officer Michael Harper said via email.

Caltrans will close a 3.6-mile stretch of Topanga Canyon Boulevard between Pacific Coast Highway and Grand View Drive due to expected heavy rainstorms

An unrelenting gloom has blanketed much of the state’s Central Valley since late November. For three weeks, David Mas Masumoto, a peach farmer in California’s San Joaquin Valley, has worked under a dense fog that has blocked nearly all sunshine.