In San Bernardino mountains, residents hit by devastating mudslide fear more to come
By K.M. Cannon
The Associated Press
Posted Dec. 2, 2015 at 6:26 a.m.
Image Credit: AP
Caption
A man walks down a hill after a mudslide in the area of San Bernardino.
SAN BERNARDINO (AP) — Residents of San Bernardino County who fled their homes and waited hours for rescuers to arrive after a deadly mudslide in a high-mountain town now fear that there are still mudslides that have not been reported.
“People are scared if that happens,” said Jodi F. McQuiston, who fled her home in Mount Rose with her teenage children and a dog.
McQuiston was staying at a hotel and was told by the company that her $500 hotel bill would be covered. She said she was told by area officials that the hotel had been evacuated and that the town police responded to the mudslide there.
San Bernardino County Fire officials said 10 people were trapped in a hotel at the time of the flood, but all were rescued, and officials said there were no injuries.
McQuiston said she waited five hours for a call from the hospital. She said she was told that her 11-year-old son would need months to recover.
About 40 houses have been destroyed by a mudslide that hit Mount Rose on Wednesday, according to county and the federal government. County officials have said the county will need 2,300 more personnel to respond to the mudslide’s aftermath.
Another mudslide destroyed about 30 homes in Orange County early Wednesday morning, and there are also mudslides in the hills of San Bernardino.
The death toll in the county has ticked up to 23, but was up to 26 Tuesday morning after a firefighter was hurt when another car careened into a group of firefighters, who used a fire engine to rescue one of the firefighters who was pinned under a parked vehicle.
The firefighters in the other car were not injured, but the driver was taken to a hospital with lacerations to her head, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
The state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said the