More than 31,000 people have been ordered to evacuate from the Hughes Fire, and another 23,000 are under evacuation warnings, LA County Sheriff Robert Luna said. There were no reports of homes or other structures burned. Parts of Interstate 5 near the Hughes Fire that had been closed reopened Wednesday evening.

The fire threat remains critical in Southern California, where thousands of residents were under evacuation orders Wednesday as fire crews battled the out-of-control Hughes Fire near Castaic, a suburb in the foothills and mountains of northern Los Angeles County.

Parched Southern California could get some badly needed rain this weekend to dampen the prospects of another round of killer wildfires.

The weekend’s rainfall will not be a very powerful storm, but rather showers, bringing between one quarter to a half inch of rain across Orange County and the inland region, Tardy said. Los Angeles is only expecting one-tenth of an inch, meteorologist Lisa Phillips said.