Rain creates rivers of mud in California

The rain-muddied east fork of the San Gabriel River rushes toward San Gabriel Reservoir in the Angeles National Forest as a storm brings rain in the midst of record drought on February 28, 2014 near Azusa, California. The rain offers some relief to the dry conditions, but also brought threats of mudslides: about a thousand residents were evacuated from Glendora, to avoid rain-loosened mud-ash debris flows from hillsides charred and denuded by the Colby Fire in January.

Angeles National Forest

Los Angeles County firefighters clear the river bed to protect a bridge over the rain-swollen east fork of the San Gabriel River in the Angeles National Forest as a storm brought rain in the midst of record drought on February 28, 2014 near Azusa, Calif.

Angeles National Forest

The rain-muddied San Gabriel River rushes into the upper reaches of the low waters of San Gabriel Reservoir in the Angeles National Forest as a storm brings rain in the midst of record drought on February 28, 2014 near Azusa, California.

Morris Reservoir

Rain falls over a rocky shoreline exposed by the low waterline of Morris Reservoir during California's record drought, in the Angeles National Forest, February 28, 2014 near Azusa, Calif.

San Gabriel River

The rain-muddied San Gabriel River rushes into the upper reaches of the low waters of San Gabriel Reservoir in the Angeles National Forest as a storm brings rain in the midst of record drought on February 28, 2014 near Azusa, California.

Glendora, Calif.

Workers clear ash, rocks and mud that have flowed onto a street below the Colby Fire burn area as a storm brings rain in the midst of record drought on February 28, 2014 in Glendora, California.

Glendora, Calif.

Workers clear a path through ash, rocks and mud that have flowed onto a street below the Colby Fire burn area as a storm brings rain in the midst of record drought on February 28, 2014 in Glendora, California.

Glendora, Calif.

Rubble from a mudslide resulting from overnight rainfall comes to a halt in front of homes in a Glendora neighborhood on the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains east of Los Angeles, February 28, 2014 in California.

Azusa, Calif.

Mari Poblete (left) and neighbor Lorenzo Tatone look at hillsides from which ash, water and mud flow through her yard below the Colby Fire burn area as a storm brought rain in the midst of record drought on February 28, 2014 in Azusa, California.

Muddy water swept down the hillside a steep, fire-denuded hillside several hundred feet high in Azusa Friday, spreading about two feet of ooze above one backyard, although fencing walls and an orchard of about 5,000 avocado trees behind the development stopped most serious debris.

Azusa, Calif.

Lorenzo Tatone helps his neighbor Mari Poblete (right) try to help control flooding at her home below the Colby Fire burn area as a storm brought rain in the midst of record drought on February 28, 2014 in Azusa, California.

Azusa, Calif.

Lorenzo Tatone brings sandbags for his heighbor Mari Poblete (left) to help control flooding at her home below the Colby Fire burn area as a storm brought rain in the midst of record drought on February 28, 2014 in Azusa, California.

San Gabriel River

The rain-muddied San Gabriel River rushes into the upper reaches of the low waters of San Gabriel Reservoir in the Angeles National Forest as a storm brought rain in the midst of record drought on February 28, 2014 near Azusa, California.

Mud

A statue lies in ash, water and mud in a backyard below the Colby Fire burn area as a storm brings rain in the midst of record drought on February 28, 2014 in Azusa, California.