Heavy rainfall causes flooding in Orange County neighborhoods

Heavy rain swept away cars and flooded streets in several Orange County cities Thursday night.

Costa Mesa woman Felicia Johnson recorded the waters carrying away a driver after the pounding rain flooded Pomona Avenue. She said she was on her apartment balcony, yelling to the elderly man to help him when he opened her car door and stepped out into waist-deep water.

"He's an elderly man, so I rush down and I'm just guiding him," she said. 

Johnson had called 911, but knew she needed to get to him. The 79-year-old driver, Rick Entrikin, described the experiences as "unbelievable" and something you'd only see on TV.

Entrikin said the floodwaters shorted the car's battery, and he couldn't get the window down to escape. 

"All of my weight, I threw it at the door and unbelievably, it opened," Entrikin said. "All of that water came on top of me and filled up my whole car."

Entrikin stretched out his umbrella so Johnson could pull him toward her. 

"I'm just glad I was there, honestly," she said. "Because there was no one up at that time. "The rain woke me up for a reason. I guess to help him."

In Huntington Beach, crews spent Friday cleaning up the mess the heavy rain left behind after flooding the duck pond near the intersection of McFadden Avenue and Dawson Lane. It submerged the neighborhood's streets and sidewalks. 

"I'm just amazed," resident Tom Cavalieri said. "We've lived here for about 31 years and never saw this before."

Resident Lee Westwell said the area has flooded. The rain also flooded a neighborhood a few blocks away at McFadden Avenue and Edwards Street.