Mission Viejo Flash Flood Watch In Place With More Weather Coming

MISSION VIEJO, CA — A winter storm has triggered a flood watch for the Silverado and Bond Fire burn scar areas and beyond, the National Weather Service says. Residents in the areas of Mission Viejo, Garden Grove, Fullerton, Irvine, Orange, and Santa Ana should be aware of potential flash floods and flooded streets through Friday, the NWS reported.

Heavy, sporadic rains were anticipated overnight lead to flood watches for the Santa Ana mountain areas.

"Scattered showers, isolated thunderstorms, will continue late Thursday," Alexander Tardy of the NWS says.

Thursday's lull in the rain will be followed with renewed activity around sunset, continuing into Friday, he says.

Rain rates of around or over 0.3 inches per hour could trigger more debris flows in those burn scar areas, as was seen Wednesday morning in Silverado Canyon areas.

Wednesday morning, a mudslide cascaded onto Silverado Canyon Road in Orange County, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or heavy damage.

Due to the fear of more rain prompting additional slides, a mandatory evacuation order was issued for Silverado Canyon, along with evacuation warnings in Modjeska and Williams canyons. Late Wednesday morning, the warnings were changed to evacuation orders for Modjeska and Williams canyons as well.

Showers continued overnight on Thursday, and scattered showers with a slight chance of thunderstorms were in the forecast for Thursday and Thursday night.
Friday, the forecast called for partly cloudy skies with a 20 percent chance of showers and winds around 15 mph in the afternoon.

"Stay away, or be swept away," the NWS advises. Riverbanks and culverts can become unstable and unsafe during a rain event. "Do not enter or cross flowing water of unknown depth."