Killer Floods, Heat in S. Cal.
Residents of California baking in scorching heat are being warned to conserve energy, reports CBS News Meteorologist Craig Allen. Record-breaking temperatures soared past 100 degrees in many parts of the state Monday, including Los Angeles. The heat wave is expected to continue Tuesday.
But residents of Forest Falls, California, in the San Bernardino Mountains are digging out two days after flood waters and landslides swept through homes, killing one woman and injuring five others.
More than 1.5 inches of rain fell in a half-hour period Sunday, triggering flash floods and landslides that swept boulders, mud and other debris through homes and cars.
"It was all so quick," said Randy Thompson, 52, of Calimesa, who was barbecuing ribs with friends when sunshine suddenly turned to rain, then hail. "All of a sudden, the house started trembling and the boulders starting coming."
Sunday's downpour was the latest devastation from a powerful flow of tropical moisture that has sent thunderheads towering over the Southwest for nearly a week. On Thursday, Las Vegas was inundated with more than 3 inches of rain, flooding homes, casinos and highways.
Fifteen homes in the mountain community about 70 miles northeast of Los Angeles were damaged or destroyed.
Allison Crow, 36, was killed when debris smashed through her parents' home, pinning her underneath her elderly father, the San Bernardino County Coroner's office said.
Neighbors discovered the man as he whistled for help, cradling his two small dogs. He and his wife were among five people hospitalized Monday in fair to good condition.
Meanwhile, bulldozers snaked a path Monday through the vacation community of 3,500, but some residents still couldn't drive out of the area, which was awash in debris that included giant pine trees, wreckage of automobiles and propane tanks.
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