On Friday, the storied coastal road had dissolved into a river of mud and debris after a powerful rainstorm sent those burned hillsides careening toward the ocean, turning canyons into rivers of mud and rocks.

Flooding, mudslides and debris flows caused by the heaviest rain in Los Angeles and southern California in a year shut Pacific Coast Highway from approximately Santa Monica to the Malibu Pier.

An atmospheric river drenched California on Thursday, with the Los Angeles area seeing floods and mudslides in communities burned by the Eaton and Palisades wildfires just weeks ago.

Debris flows brought on by the strongest atmospheric river of the season swept a car off a southern California highway and into the ocean and left roads submerged in sludge.

A swift debris flow swept a Los Angeles Fire Department vehicle off the Pacific Coast Highway and into the ocean as heavy rain fell across Southern California on Thursday, creating deluges of water and mud on roads at the bottom of hillsides left barren by recent wildfires.