An uncommon October storm battered Southern California with multiple inches of rainfall on Tuesday, causing rivers to swell, triggering highway crashes and forcing evacuations in fire-damaged areas where mudslide risks remained elevated.
The National Weather Service released flash flood warnings across multiple counties where recent blazes stripped hillsides of vegetation needed to secure soil, creating conditions where terrain could easily shift during storms.
By Tuesday afternoon, most regions had received up to 1.5 inches (3.8 centimeters) of precipitation, according to the National Weather Service for Los Angeles…