California mountain towns clean up mud flows

An evacuation warning remained in effect for about 80 homes in the Erskine Creek area of Lake Isabella, a community near a forest fire about 90 miles north of Los Angeles.

"It's safer if they just stay out till the threat ... is over," said fire spokeswoman Barbara Dougan.

The National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning for the fourth day in row for the town, downslope from the fire.

After about an hour of rain Tuesday, a creek swelled over a road, said Kern County Fire Department spokesman Chris Stroub.

"Today it wasn't so bad because the rain fell on the eastern, desert side," Stroub said. "That drainage is less inhabited and people were prepared for it because it's been going on for a couple days now."

Earlier rainstorms left streets covered by ash and mud Monday afternoon.

Donna Campbell, who works in the town, said the mud covered one block of Lake Isabella Boulevard nearly 3 feet deep, she said, and "has people's belongings in it."

No major damage was reported, but flows that began during the weekend had dirtied creeks, Dougan said.

Afternoon thunderstorms over the mountains have dumped about an hour of heavy rain daily, said Eric Boldt, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard.