Muddy mess left in wake of Southern California thunderstorms
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A section of Southern California found itself waist-deep in mud as the weekend arrived, and a highway overtaken by flowing debris looked like a buried junkyard of hundreds of cars that would likely take days to dig up.
The worst of the thunderstorms had passed, but the continued chance of rain could dampen cleanup and relief efforts in northern Los Angeles County's Antelope Valley, where the most serious slides occurred.
On Friday, rescuers and those stranded in the highway debris flow described a chaotic scene that somehow left no reported injuries or deaths.
Rescuers threw ladders and tarps across mud up to 6 feet deep to help the hundreds of trapped people from cars that got caught in the roiling river of mud along State Route 58 about 30 miles east of Bakersfield, a major trucking route, California Highway Patrol officials said.
The storms unleashed flash flooding and debris flows along the 58, Interstate 5 and in two small mountainside communities, where at least a dozen homes were reported damaged.
Sheriff's deputies checked on the occupants of nearly 800 homes in the area to make sure everyone inside was safe, their department said in a statement.