Cars removed from mud-swamped California highway

The National Weather Service said a flash flood watch would be in effect again Friday afternoon and early evening for the mountains and deserts because of the continuing threat of severe and slow-moving thunderstorms, which raises the potential for flash floods and debris flows. “But luckily the rain has been light so far”.

Drainage systems also needed to be cleared along an 8-mile stretch of the highway about 80 miles north of downtown Los Angeles, said Florene Trainor, a spokeswoman for Caltrans. Officials hope to reopen the highway by Thursday at the latest. The area, south of State Route 58 in Tehachapi, was buried in up to six foot of mud and debris with more than 100 cars, buses, RVs and big-rig trucks left stranded in place.

‘Witnesses reported Harvell was trying to prevent his truck from being swept away when he was swept away by the strong current of water, mud and sand, ‘ the Kern County Sheriff’s Office said. Emergency crews were working to dig out head-high mounds of mud from the 58 and Interstate 5, which was also shut down as hundreds of cars were trapped in the mud Thursday.

Kerjon Lee, a spokesman for Los Angeles County Public Works, said Saturday that more than 30 pieces of heavy equipment were on the ground in the small mountain communities of Elizabeth Lake and Lake Hughes in Leona Valley, about 40 miles north of Los Angeles.

Homeowners in northern Los Angeles County communities spent their weekend digging mud out of their houses. The dirt eventually will be used to backfill eroded canyons.

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Richard Harvell’s family and friends have joined authorities in searching for the 67-year-old man, following floods that swept through his camping area in California last week. “This mobile was right over here behind that tree”, said Steve Lopez, gesturing to an area that was hundreds of feet away from the home’s current location.

Gary and Gina Hartle, who own a 70-acre horse ranch in Lake Hughes, said they have so much work to restore their property, they have no idea how long it will take.

“We’re not going to give up hope until they find him one way or another”, she said, adding her father, a Vietnam War veteran, knew how to survive in the rugged desert area near Boron, where he’s lived for years.