Heavy streams of rain in burn scar areas have some Duarte residents on high alert.
“It’s the constant steady rain, or really hard rainfall to the point that it overwhelms,” said Duarte resident Juan Lopez-Driotis.
Lopez-Driotis already experienced mother nature on his doorstep earlier this year during the summer’s Fish Fire.
“As you can see right behind you, the cars are in evacuation mode,” he told KTLA’s Carlos Saucedo. “They are facing out, they are loaded. This one is charged. That one is fueled, so they are good to go.”
Massive K-rails have lined the homes most at risk in case a wall of mud and debris rush down.
“If the K-rails do their job, they’re supposed to divert and mitigate a lot of the debris-flow into the roadway and out of people’s property,” Larry Breceda, a public safety manager with the City of Duarte, told KTLA. “However, if mud and debris flow overtake the K-rails and go above the K-rails into someone’s property, and if you have a single-family home, single floor, single level, then someone could drown, get trapped. They can lose their life.”
Approximately 25 homes in the Fish Fire impact area were given mandatory evacuation orders starting at 11 p.m. The city was also opening the Duarte Community Center as an evacuation site for any displaced residents.
“We’ve lived here for about three years and this is the first we’ve seen the K-rails,” said Duarte resident Chara Nixon. “So, a little nervous at first, but no, this is it.”
Nearby, Valley View Academy Elementary School will be closed Tuesday because of the expected rain.
While many residents said they were staying put, some said they would be sleeping with one eye open.