LA wildfires: Mudslides, toxic ash pose new threats

Heavy rain in LA’s fire zones has sparked fears of flash flooding and dangerous mudslides amid fears of yet more evacuations.

Los Angeles residents are facing new threats after rain fell over devastated neighbourhoods most impacted by the recent wildfires, which killed at least 28 people and destroyed thousands of homes.

Much-needed rain has fallen and showers are expected to continue over the coming hours, with the major LA blazes at least 80 per cent contained.

However, officials are now warning about the potential of flash flooding, dangerous mudslides and “toxic ash” run-off from the rain amid fears more evacuations may be necessary.

An aerial view of homes destroyed in the Eaton fire. Southern California is facing significant rainfall, which could cause flash flooding or mudslides. Picture: Getty Images via AFP

Altadena is in darkness due to an ongoing electricity outage. Picture: Getty Images via AFP

A flash-flood watch is in effect in fire-scarred areas, with meteorologists warning there was a danger of damaging “debris flows” in areas devastated by the wildfires.

“This is the worst-case scenario to prepare for,” Kristan Lund, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard, told The Los Angeles Times. 

A flood watch is in effect for the burned areas of the Eaton fire in the Altadena and Pasadena areas; the Palisades and Franklin fires in the Pacific Palisades and Malibu areas; the Hughes fire around Lake Castaic; and the Bridge fire in San Gabriel Mountains west and southwest of Wrightwood.

TRUMP VOWS TO REBUILD LA

In his recent tour of the California wildfires disaster zone, US President Donald Trump said he was stunned by the devastation in Los Angeles and vowed to work with local officials to rebuild and help victims.

“We have to work together to get this really worked out,” Mr Trump said, according to The Los Angeles Times.

“I don’t think you can realise how ... devastating it is until you see it,” he said.

The upscale neighbourhoods of Malibu and Pacific Palisades have long been considered prime real estate, with mountain and ocean views, and direct access to the highway and beachfront. Mr Trump, a former real estate developer, well knows the land value.

But a top Los Angeles realtor has a differing opinion that the area will ever return to its former status.

A chimney stands amid burnt trees and ashes in a destroyed property overlooking the Pacific Ocean after the Palisades fire, in Malibu, California. Picture: AFP

Former Million Dollar Listing reality personality and real estate agent Josh Altman believes that the devastating reality of charred ruins and lapsed insurance policies facing many former homeowners will prevent rebuilding.

He predicts two thirds of Pacific Palisades residents will abandon their homesites and never return to rebuild their dwellings.

“They’re not staying away because they don’t want to return,” Mr Altman told Fox Business. “Of course they want to go back there. They’re not going to return because it’s simple math. I don’t believe they’re going to be able to afford to rebuild.”

Altman has sold many high-priced properties, including the most expensive recorded sale in Brentwood for US$65 million ($103 million).

British actor and audiobook narrator Simon Vance searches through the remains of his studio at his home which burned in the Eaton Fire on January 25, 2025 in Altadena, California. Picture: Getty Images via AFP

Nick Sonnenburg and his parents search for personal items to recover from the remains of his apartment which burned in the Eaton Fire. Picture: Getty Images via AFP

“We’re talking about $1,000 per square foot to build in places like the Palisades and Malibu. With most people heavily underinsured and construction costs skyrocketing — lumber, steel, everything - it’s just not feasible for many,” he said.

Residents would also be dismayed by the destroyed vegetation and toxic chemicals now in the soil, as well as the eyesores of neighbours’ lots that may sit idle for an indefinite period of time.

The remains of a building destroyed by the Palisades fire, access to which is blocked by yellow sheriff's tape along the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, California. Picture: AFP

“Getting a construction crew to show up at your site is going to be nearly impossible when 16,000 structures — homes, schools, commercial buildings - have been destroyed,” he said.

The Los Angeles County fires have torched more than 50,000 acres and destroyed more than 16,000 structures since January 7.

TRUMP RIPS INTO LA MAYOR

US President Donald Trump sparred with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass after touring wildfire damage in America’s second-largest city — demanding she use her “emergency powers” and allow residents to return to their homes to rebuild.

Mr Trump championed resident complaints about not being allowed to access their properties to clear debris and begin reconstruction while blaming local policies for causing the catastrophe estimated to cost US$250 billion.

“I just think you have to allow the people to go on their site and start the process tonight,” Mr Trump told the Democratic mayor during a roundtable discussion that included most of the area’s congressional delegation.

“And we will,” Ms Bass claimed, despite contradicting herself minutes later by saying residents would need to wait one week before being allowed back to their destroyed homes.

Mayor Bass has repeatedly cited safety concerns.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and US First Lady Melania Trump look on as US President Donald Trump speaks during a fire emergency briefing. Picture: AFP

But the New York Post reported angry residents yelling at the mayor.

“We can’t even see our homes right now!” a local woman shouted.

Ms Bass said, “You will be able to go back soon. We think within a week.”

“A week is actually a long time, the way I look at it,” Mr Trump reprimanded the mayor.

“I watched hundreds of people standing in front of their lots, and they’re not allowed to go in,” Mr Trump said. “It’s all burned. It’s gone, it’s done. Nothing’s going to happen… The people are all over the place. They’re standing and they say… ‘We’re trying to get a permit’, and the permit is going to take them, everybody said, 18 months,” Mr Trump said.

“You have emergency powers, just like I do, and I’m exercising my emergency powers. You have to exercise them also,” President Trump scolded Mayor Bass.

“I did exercise them,” she insisted. “If individuals want to clear out their property, they can.”

The newly inaugurated president, who took office Monday, said that he will try to hasten rebuilding by waiving any federal permits and that he would pressure California officials to do the same.

US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump meet residents as they tour a fire-affected area in the Pacific Palisades neighbourhood of Los Angeles, California. Picture: AFP

“We’re going to essentially waive all federal permits,” Mr Trump said. “I’m going to override the Coastal Commission, I’m not going to let them get away with their antics.”

He blamed Democrats, including those present, for causing the crisis by failing to clear parched vegetation, inadequately supplying water to the area allowing fire hydrants to run dry, and creating a situation where many fire insurance providers pulled out of the region last year.

“I’m signing an executive order to open up the pumps and valves in the north. We want to get that water pouring down here as quickly as possible to let hundreds of millions of gallons of water flow down into Southern California,” Mr Trump said.

“I really strongly recommended this seven years ago. And I think I’m going to just do it.”

He added: “You have so much water. Use it and be happy about it.”

Senator Brad Sherman urged President Trump not to withhold funds over state voting policy, which he said earlier Friday would be a “condition” of aid.

Mr Trump said he was “not a fan” of insurers but that “you lost your insurance companies six months ago because the state wouldn’t give them what they had to have.”

“People that think like you made it so impossible,” Mr Trump told Rep. Sherman.

VIDEO OF MELANIA COMFORTING FIRE VICTIMS GOES VIRAL

A touching video of Melania Trump comforting victims of the LA wildfires in Serbo-Croatian has gone viral, showing another side of the First Lady.

In a video posted on X by user Johnny Maga, a 30-second clip shows Melania speaking to a Serbian woman in her own language, comforting her after the devastating loss of her house in the Palisades fires.

The clip has garnered 3.1 million views with online readers offering context that Melania would understand Serbian which is closely related to Slovenian, her language.

Melania Trump speaks Slovenian to victims of the Pacific Palisades fires in Los Angeles.

A historic moment. pic.twitter.com/G3DFXdPTfS

— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) January 25, 2025

TRUMP THREATENS TO END US DISASTER RELIEF AGENCY

America’s federal disaster relief agency could be shut down under Donald Trump, with the US President musing about the controversial overhaul as he examined the devastation of a deadly hurricane in North Carolina and the Los Angeles wildfires.

Mr Trump also threatened to withhold aid from California unless the state changed its water policies and implemented voter ID laws for elections, a call that infuriated local leaders.

Amid the firestorm that destroyed thousands of properties in Los Angeles, the Republican had blamed California’s Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom because he restricted water flows to protect a species of fish, leaving fire hydrants dry during the disaster.

Mr Newsom was not on the list of attendees to a fire briefing arranged by the White House but turned up to greet the US President anyway. Picture: Mandel Ngan / AFP

Mr Newsom – who Mr Trump calls “Newscum” – was not invited for the President’s tour of the devastated Pacific Palisades community on Friday (local time).

But the Governor greeted Mr Trump at the airport, where the pair appeared to briefly put aside their differences.

“I appreciate the Governor coming out and meeting me,” the President said, describing the fire damage as “like you got hit by a bomb”.

“They are going to need a lot of help … Unless they don’t need any?”

Mr Trump shakes hands with the Democratic Governor as he speaks to the press upon arrival at Los Angeles International Airport. Picture: Mandel Ngan / AFP

Mr Newsom responded: “We’re going to need your support. We’re going to need your help. You were there for us during Covid, I don’t forget that, and I have all the expectations that we’ll be able to work together to get this speedy recovery.”

The President and First Lady Melania Trump pose with a helmet reading ‘Batallion Chief 47’ donated by firefighters from Station 69 as they tour areas in Pacific Palisades. Picture: Mandel Ngan / AFP

The Trumps are shown around decimated streets in the LA neighbourhood of Pacific Palisades Picture: Mandel Ngan / AFP

Mr Trump meets residents impacted by the Pacific Palisades fire. Picture: Mandel Ngan / AFP

Mr Newsom, who has accused Mr Trump of spreading “misinformation” about his culpability, addressed the president’s insistence upon state voting reform as a condition for aid upon prompting from a reporter.

“I have all the confidence in the world we’ll work that out,” Mr Newsom said.

The view from the Marine One chopper that gave President Trump an aerial perspective of the fire damage. Picture: Mandel Ngan / AFP

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, echoing her boss’ prior remarks, told reporters aboard Air Force One en route to LA that Mr Newsom was responsible for the catastrophe.

“Certainly Gavin Newsom — or ‘Newscum’, as President Trump likes to call him – has wronged the people of his state,” Ms Leavitt said.

Mr Trump also doubled down on his threat to make federal aid to California conditional on changes to its water policies and election laws.

Originally published as LA wildfires: Mudslides, toxic ash pose new threats