Several People Rescued From Rushing Waterways, Flooded Streets

HIGHLAND (CBSLA) — A transient was safely rescued by firefighters from a flood control channel after a storm walloping Southern California turned the water flow into a raging river.

The rescue at Pacific and Victoria in Highland was just one of several rescues that took place Thursday morning across the region.

A person was reported in the water near the 31000 block of Strawberry Tree Lane in Temecula at about 5:54 a.m. Firefighters found that person in the middle of the Temecula Creek waterway. A swift water rescue team used a boat to rescue the person, who was taken to a hospital with minor injuries.

In Menifee, firefighters were called out at about 6 a.m. to help several people whose vehicles became stuck at Matthews and Ethanac Road because of flooding. Water had risen up to the doors of three vehicles, trapping five people.

Three rescuers were deployed in a boat to extricate all five, none of whom were injured.

San Bernardino County sheriff's aviation unit was deployed at about 8 a.m. to airlift two people from the rising Santa Ana River. Authorities say transients living in the riverbed had been warned several times to vacate with the impending rain, but some decided to stay.

Emergency crews were also reportedly attempting a water rescue of two people trapped on the roof of their car in Cabazon. Rushing water appears to be threatening to push the vehicle off the road.

Firefighters went out in a boat to check a car that was submerged near Fairmont Park in Riverside, but there was no one found in the car.