At a Glance

More than 3,000 residents in Southern California were ordered to evacuate amid a new round of heavy rains.Several roads were closed Wednesday. Within five minutes, nearly 1,500 lightning strikes were recorded off the California Coast.

A new round of heavy rain soaking California on Wednesday prompted evacuation orders for thousands of residents in wildfire burn areas amid concerns of mudslides and debris flows.

At least 3,000 residents were ordered Tuesday to scarred by the Thomas, Whittier and Sherpa wildfires, including areas in Montecito that were hit last year by a devastating debris flow that damaged hundreds of Montecito buildings, killed 21 people and left two others missing.

On Wednesday, the as the rains diminished in the the region, Santa Barbara County tweeted.

The burn areas tend to be evacuated during every round of heavy rain, of which there have been many this winter, and residents are becoming more and more reluctant to heed evacuation orders.

"Nobody's going into panic mode," Ray Dunham, an employee at Montecito's Village Service Station, told the Associated Press. "They think the threat is way over-exaggerated."

Sheriff Bill Brown said the county does not take the threat of mudslides and debris flows lightly and notes that while the evacuation orders are "very inconvenient, please know there is a high risk to life and property."

As the storm approached, nearly 1,500 lightning strikes were recorded in a five-minute timeframe off the southern California coast, according to the National Weather Service.

(MORE: Weekend System May Bring Snow, Wind to Plains, Midwest and Severe Weather to the South)

Flooding was reported on numerous roads, including on a road in Death Valley National Park.

Highway 178 between Bakersfield and Lake Isabella was because of large rock slide. The road may stay closed for a day or two.

Caltrans said it will close State Route 140 in the Ferguson fire scar area of Mariposa County at 1 p.m. Wednesday for the next round of storms coming Thursday.

The peak of this storm's heavy rain will be through Wednesday afternoon and some showery precipitation may linger into Wednesday night, according to weather.com meteorologist Chris Dolce.

Another storm system will keep the unsettled weather pattern going Thursday through Friday, but rain and snow amounts from it will be light.