In the era when American cities regularly caught fire, the widespread destruction seeded what looks, in retrospect, like possibility.

The scale of the destruction is hard to comprehend: The fires have consumed more the 60 square miles, according to state fire officials, and killed at least 24 people even as the search for additional victims remains ongoing.

Rain has finally returned to wildfire-scorched Los Angeles — but now officials are warning flooding and landslides could wreak more chaos on the battered city along its “burn scars.” The National Weather Service issued a flood watch for the area from 4 p.