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 cause is under investigation, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Evacuation warnings went into effect in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood with multiple homes under immediate threat,

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.