San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties have already seen more than an inch of rain by early Tuesday, Oct. 14.

The first storm of the season is pummeling the Southland, causing evacuations, road closures and power outages in fire-scarred communities.

Evacuation warnings have been issued for recently burned areas in the foothills of the Santa Monica and San Gabriel mountains as an early-season storm bringing heavy rain enters the region Monday night. Rainfall rates could reach 1 inch per hour, exceeding the threshold required to trigger debris flows in some recently burned spots.

The National Weather Service extended a severe thunderstorm warning for an area of Los Angeles County stretching from Santa Monica to Santa Clarita.

The National Weather Service is advising SoCal residents that a “winter-like storm system” will make its way to the region this week. The storm system is set to arrive late Monday and hover over the area until early Wednesday,

Local fire crews are launching a sweeping effort to prevent future wildfires in the Santa Monica Mountains. It entails using both animals and machines to create fire breaks — a controversial solution in Southern California.