Mudslides trap drivers, bury roads and damage homes in Southern California
OAK GLEN Calif AP Mudslides and debris flows knocked down trees plowed into homes and trapped drivers for hours after several Southern California communities were hit by heavy rain personnel explained Personnel rescued people traveling in at least six vehicles who were stranded on state Journey in the area of Jenks Lake near the San Bernardino National Forest the fire district stated The path is narrow and winding through towering trees and curves back and forth up the mountainside linking cities east of Los Angeles with the resort town of Big Bear Lake No one was hurt and no one is shared missing Christopher Prater a population information officer for San Bernardino County Fire revealed Friday The mudslides affected the tiny mountain communities of Forest Falls Oak Glen and Potato Canyon the county s fire protection district declared in a message Intense rains pounded the area for more than an hour Thursday afternoon as remnants of Tropical Storm Mario reached the mountainous region the National Weather Organization revealed Kael Steel advised KNBC-TV he was driving down the mountain from Big Bear to head to an amusement park when the rain started pounding Suddenly we started seeing rocks and stuff coming down the side of the mountain he explained Steel reported cars were turning around telling him the road was blocked So he headed back up the mountain but was blocked again He turned around once more and noted the road he had crossed seconds earlier had been wiped away There s no road there anymore he revealed The journey was still closed as of Friday morning the California Highway Patrol explained Damage teams planned to assess the hillside areas impacted by the slides Authorities could not promptly say how plenty of homes were affected or the extent of the damage The group obviously has been impacted fairly significantly Prater revealed How bad we don t know yet Forest Falls a tiny town just off Road was walloped by mudslides three years ago That was just two years after wildfires ripped through the area leaving burn scars or areas where there s little vegetation to hold the soil On Thursday the region saw inches centimeters of rain fall in an hour and another half inch centimeters after that far more than the arid Southern California region usually sees stated Kyle Wheeler a meteorologist for the National Weather Facility in San Diego The rain also fell much faster Wheeler reported adding that the rainfall rates for summer thunderstorms in the region are more typically about a half inch centimeters per hour They got almost two inches of rain in a two-hour time period Wheeler announced The fact that it happened in such a flood prone location is just an unfortunate event Elsewhere in San Bernardino County administration were searching for a -year-old boy who went missing after his family s bicycle was swept off the road by floodwaters Thursday night in Barstow according to a post on the Barstow police department s Facebook page Friday The boy s father was separated from his son and rescued by bureaucrats the post declared A message seeking additional information was left for Barstow police
