Storms lead to debris flows in LA

Scheduling note: WhatMatters is honoring America’s presidents on Monday and will return to your inboxes on Tuesday.

From the CalMatters environmental team:

In large swaths of Los Angeles, Ventura and Orange counties scarred by fires, thousands of residents were on edge through the night as the heaviest storm of the season hit.

Debris flows were reported in Altadena and Sierra Madre Canyon — near areas burned by the Eaton Fire. A mudslide closed Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu and Pacific Palisades until “further notice,” and a large debris flow deposited 8 inches of mud across Mulholland Drive in the Hollywood Hills. No injuries were confirmed but emergency teams reported several rescue attempts and some damaged buildings.

Emergency crews had worked feverishly in a last-minute effort to safeguard communities. The heaviest rain began about 4 p.m., when the National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning, telling people within the Eaton Fire burn scar to move immediately out of the area. Cell phones sounded the alert, and on streets beneath the burned area, streams of muddy water flowed freely.

Residents illuminated by car headlights stacked sandbags as the storms began. The Altadena Mountain Rescue Team posted a video showing a rushing waterway that overflowed its banks. The clacking sound of large rocks and boulders boomed in the foothills’ narrow canyons. A local meteorologist called it “the largest flood at Eaton Canyon in 45 years,” saying it rerouted a creek more than 150 feet and uprooted dozens of trees in a park.

• KTLA reporter Carlos Saucedo in Altadena: “Almost a wipeout here…A river, a wall of mud just came toward us. It was quick, it was sudden and lasted a good 5 minutes” covering the station’s photographer with mud to his waist.

As CalMatters reported, officials warned that the burn areas have a high to very high risk of debris flows. Wildfires incinerate vegetation that holds soil together and helps stabilize steep slopes. When rain falls quickly on such areas, water races downstream, picking up sand and gravel, then boulders. A debris flow can carry away vehicles and obliterate homes.

Southern California debris flows in 1969, 2003 and 2018 killed dozens of people. In some cases, three to five years may pass after a fire before the risk of debris flows fully subsides.

Since returning to the White House, President Donald Trump has pledged to reshape K-12 schools, including dismantling the U.S. Department of Education. Though it’s still too early to see precisely how his administration’s proposals — if they come to pass — will affect California schools, CalMatters’ Carolyn Jones breaks down which state policies could be changed and how California is responding.

That includes a budget deal the Republican-controlled Congress could agree to in March that could slash federal education spending, affecting student loans and funding for rural schools. Trump’s crackdowns on transgender youth and immigration, including lifting a ban on raids at “sensitive locations” such as schools, have also contributed to reports of lower attendance and increased bullying at some California schools.

Read more here.

Speaking of education: Preliminary data from the California Student Aid Commission — the state agency that oversees financial aid — reveals that the number of California high school seniors completing federal financial aid applications has dropped significantly compared to past years: Roughly 48,000 fewer students, or 25%, as of last week, writes CalMatters’ Mikhail Zinshteyn.

Daisy Gonzales, the commission’s executive director, called the trend “very alarming.” She points to a number of possible reasons, including Trump’s mass deportation campaign, the displacement of families and schools from the Southern California wildfires and increased scrutiny about the value of college among students.

Read more here.

As Southern California works to rebuild the thousands of homes and structures that were engulfed in January’s wildfires, one topic that’s been at the forefront of conversation is streamlining the permitting process for buildings.

Speeding up the certification process in particular, CalMatters’ Ben Christopher explains, is one of the more aggressive ways state and local officials are attempting to eliminate red tape.

Last week the Los Angeles city council voted to direct city staff to explore the idea of a building permit “self-certification” program. Self-certification allows architects and engineers to sign off on their plans for small residential construction projects, instead of waiting for the city’s building department to do so. The city would still review the projects later, during and after construction.

On Thursday Gov. Gavin Newsom also issued an executive order to, among other things, allow homeowners of recently constructed homes to reuse their own plans. 

Self-certification isn’t exactly new: In Bellflower, construction projects have been self-certified for a decade. The city is happy to move out of the way, said City Manager Ryan Smoot, when architects and engineers are willing to risk their licenses on a project that they say is up to code.

But if they want the city’s approval before beginning construction, they can go through the standard permitting process, and then “don’t complain about it when it takes a little longer to do those reviews than you like,” said Smoot.

The approach does come with risks: If problems emerge after construction begins, for example, the owner is responsible for fixing them. Self-certification also puts a lot of faith that architects and engineers won’t make mistakes.

• Kelly Charles, San Diego’s chief building official: “From my experience, we’ve never seen a brand new building — from ground up — that is a perfect submittal that did not have any health or safety issues.”

Read more here.

Trump’s ban on new offshore wind leases could slow California’s progress toward renewable energy. CalMatters environment reporter Julie Cart and video strategy director Robert Meeks have a video segment on what the directive means for the nascent industry as part of our partnership with PBS SoCal. Watch it here.

And watch another video from CalMatters business reporter Malena Carollo and Robert about California utility companies collecting millions in shareholder profits through customer bills. Watch it here.

SoCalMatters airs at 5:58 p.m. weekdays on PBS SoCal.