The closure left thousands of drivers searching for alternative routes. There were no immediate reports of injuries, but crews were continuing to survey the area on the ground and from the air in search of any other possible flooding victims. Emergency teams used a helicopter to rescue two people trapped in an SUV partially submerged in rushing water. Hundreds of vehicles remained stuck in the mud as of Friday morning, the Associated Press reported.
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He said there was no estimate available of when the key north-south artery – which was choked by debris, mud and car-sized boulders – would be reopened and urged travelers to take a different route.
Almost 40 miles of Interstate 5 in Southern California were shut down last night after flash flooding sent mud and rocks down onto the roadways.
California police say they expect a mud-covered interstate to reopen to traffic Friday afternoon.
Rural Lake Hughes, a tiny mountainside community in northern Los Angeles County was in the path of the storm.
Robert Rocha, a 37-year-old resident, said he was driving home from work when the storm hit, stranding him for three hours before he found a way to get home.
“It was getting pretty hairy out there”, he said. “I have never seen slides like this”, Ray Pruitt, a spokesman for the Kern County Sheriff’s Department, told the L.A. Times.
Rain could fall at a rate of more than two inches per hour, bringing an increased danger for mud and debris flows in recent burn areas, the NWS said.
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Also, a fire ladder truck saved at least six people and six dogs that were stranded on roofs in the area, with the department later sharing the photos on Twitter. The footage shows Vargas and several people filling up a bus, which took him to a shelter set up by Red Cross at Monroe Continuation School in Tehachapi. “The area is hilly along with canyons…so the mud was created by the runoff… and the debris flowing downhill”, Sirard said.
