A powerful March storm has been lashing the West Coast with heavy rainfall, gusty winds and snowfall in the mountains –– shifting southward and posing a particular threat to communities scorched by the deadly Los Angeles wildfires from the start of the year.

A strong storm system is expected to “blast through” Los Angeles and Orange County tonight, bringing a heavy dose of rain over a short period of time and prompting evacuation orders, flood warnings and road closures.

Late-winter storms bringing heavy rain, evacuation order and warnings, flood warnings and road closures is in the forecast Wednesday for Los Angeles and Orange counties and is expected to douse the region for the next three days.

Over the weekend, Kiefer got a call from the West Los Angeles Animal Shelter. Her daughter Carolyn Kiefer shared their reunion Saturday in a TikTok video that quickly garnered more than 1 million likes. It shows tears pouring from Katherine Kiefer’s eyes as Aggie curled up in her arms.

A storm soaking the state on Wednesday and Thursday is bringing new danger to the area hit by wildfires earlier this year.

Wildfires that destroyed two neighborhoods made the state’s housing shortage even worse. Now, opposition is growing to creating more.

The Southern California storm is expected to arrive Wednesday and dump 1 to 2 inches of rain along the coast and up to 4 inches in the valleys at rates that could cause problems.