CNN national correspondent Natasha Chen and her team were wrapping up a long day of reporting on the devastating wildfires racing through the Los Angeles area on Tuesday, as the sun set over the scorched landscape.

Resident Nicolas Libonati said he saw a lot of abandoned cars on the road, and people running toward the coast. "It was kind of a surreal scene," he said.

A windstorm is threatening to spread a brush fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood in southern California and could trigger more fires as evacuations are underway.

The blaze began shortly after the start of a Santa Ana windstorm that the National Weather service warned could be the strongest to hit Southern California in more than a decade.

A large wildfire broke out in Pacific Palisades Tuesday afternoon, prompting mandatory evacuations affecting tens of thousands of people and highway closures. Later Tuesday a second wildfire broke out in the foothills of Pasadena on the other side of Los Angeles County.

A powerful Santa Ana windstorm is bringing hurricane-force gusts and fire risks to California. Here's everything you need to know about the weather phenomenon.