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Searchers Find 2 Dead in Calif. Mudslide

Posted on: Friday, 26 December 2003, 06:00 CST

Searchers found two people dead amid the partially buried buildings of a youth camp Friday, and they were searching for as many as 10 others believed missing in a mudslide that swept through foothills recently scorched by wildfire.

Several empty vehicles were also found in the area, so it wasn't known if the bodies were people missing from the camp or if there were hikers or other people also caught in the sliding debris, authorities said.

At least 24 people had been at Saint Sophia Camp celebrating the holidays when mud and water rushed through their cabins Christmas Day, relatives and authorities said.

Fourteen people from the camp were rescued Thursday, some pulled from the mud and from beneath fallen trees. One man said he grabbed his young daughter but watched helplessly as his wife and other child were swept away. Another was found trapped beneath a fallen tree that authorities had to cut apart to free him.

The mudslide washed out roads and bridges, forcing searchers to hike over the rough terrain to resume the search at the camp in Waterman Canyon Friday morning. Rivers of mud were 12- to 15-feet deep in places as sheriff's deputies and firefighters worked their way through the debris and helicopters searched for signs of survivors from overhead.

"We aren't going up there to locate dead bodies, we're going up there to find the folks that survived this horrible incident," said county Fire Department spokesman Tracey Martinez.

Six to 10 people were still believed to be missing in the canyon Friday morning, said Chip Patterson, spokesman for the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department.

The youth camp's caretaker, George Monzon, was among those unaccounted for, said the Rev. John Bakas, who helps lead the Greek Orthodox camp. He said there was no organized events there Christmas Day and he did not know who the others may have been.

Mildred Najara identified two others missing as her 40-year-old sister, Rosa, and 7-year-old niece, Katrine. Her brother-in-law, Gilberto Juarez, had been able to save the couple's 3-year-old daughter, Stephanie, she said.

"He said he helped the little girl up and when he turned they were gone, the water had risen too much and had swept the cabin away," Najara said. "They became separated when the water rushed in."

Juarez was among 10 people treated for minor injuries, including a man was found buried waist-deep in mud and debris and trapped beneath a log. Rescue crews were able to cut the log free and carried the man across a creek to safety, San Bernardino County Fire Capt. Rick McClintock said.

Patterson said others missing ranged in age from 6 months to 45 years.

The storm dumped more than 3 1/2 inches of rain on areas heavily scarred by wildfires this fall, flooding streets in San Bernardino and elsewhere, cutting power to more than 67,000 customers and causing mudslides. The blazes in October and November, the most severe in state history, burned off vegetation that normally would help shore up the steep terrain, leaving the ground prone to mudslides.

Much of Waterman Canyon had been scorched by a wildfire that burned more than 91,000 acres, destroyed 993 homes and killed four people.

On Thursday, authorities evacuated residents who live in the canyon and closed off the road leading there. A surging stream of mud and water rushed through the canyon, which looked like a sea of gray mud.

County Fire Marshal Peter Brierty said rescuers faced "incredibly mushy, muddy, slippery" conditions, wich some slipping into the mud up to their hips as they tried to navigate the canyon.

The debris flows, some 12 feet high, contained logs and branches, making them especially dangerous.

"Even a foot or 2 feet of this will knock you down," Brierty said.

Elsewhere in the county, a mudslide triggered by the heavy rain damaged and toppled trailers at a campground in Devore. Sheriff's spokeswoman Cindy Beavers said 30 to 50 people suffered minor injuries. Several people were unaccounted for, but authorities said they were not believed to be in danger. In Lytle Creek Canyon, a 4-foot-high mud flow crossed a road, trapping a car. The driver wasn't hurt.

Emergency crews spent much of Christmas Day setting sand bags outside homes and along waterways to contain flood water and diverting traffic from washed out roads.

The Pacific storm began moving into Southern California on Wednesday evening, bringing Los Angeles its first rainy Christmas Day in two decades.

Strong wind gusts downed power lines in parts of Los Angeles and San Bernardino, and in downtown Los Angeles, wind blew eight stories of scaffolding onto parked cars, damaging the vehicles but causing no injuries.

The mudslides also derailed an empty freight train in the Cajon Pass near Los Angeles and shut down two main tracks between the Los Angeles basin and points east that serve about 100 trains a day, said Lena Kent, a spokeswoman for Burlington Northern and A&D Santa Fe Railway. There were no reports of injuries.

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