Deadly rains in Southern California send rivers of mud into homes, trigger fire, flooding

“Residents living in or immediately downstream should take immediate precautions to protect life and property,” said an early-morning NWS advisory.

The year’s first major rainstorm is a test for parts of California where wildfire-ravaged land has lost crucial vegetation and left hillsides bare. The Thomas Fire is the largest wildfire in state history, fire officials have said, and burned more than 280,000 acres and killed at least two people since early December.

In Burbank, city officials said voluntary evacuations were recommended for neighborhoods near where the La Tuna Fire burned thousands of acres in September.

A police car is surrounded by a mudslide in the La Tuna fire burn area in Southern California. NBC News

Also making the conditions more dangerous are winds gusting as high as 70 mph through Tuesday night. The rain isn’t expected to taper off until early Wednesday.

Meanwhile, steady rains and high winds posed a messy Tuesday morning commute in Northern California, NBC Bay Area reported.

Already on Monday, San Francisco saw almost 2 inches of rain through the afternoon, making it the wettest calendar day since Dec. 11, 2014, according to The Weather Channel.

“We’re going from one natural hazard straight into another,” said Weather Channel meteorologist Danielle Banks.