Mudslides kill one, strand thousands in California
Digital Reporter
Monday, August 4, 2014, 11:57 AM - One person is dead and thousands more are cut off from aid after severe thunderstorms unleashed mudslides and flooding in California on Sunday.
The one reported fatality was a person found dead in a vehicle that had been washed off a road into a creek near Mt. Baldy, 80 km from Los Angeles, according to Reuters.
Mountain communities in the area have been cut off by several mudslides, with Reuters reporting it could take up to three days for workers to clear the roads in the area of Forest Falls.
ABC News says around 2,500 people have been stranded by the slides and flooding. Some have been rescued by helicopter, but around 500 of those still cut off are children who had arrived at an area campground just on Sunday morning.
Despite what the torrential downpours would suggest, California as a whole is in the grip of an historic drought, and this year's wildfire season has been severe.
California governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency on Saturday as those fires raged.
Two blazes in the Lassen National Forest forced the evacuation of a long care home. Elsewhere, around a dozen fires are burning severely enough to threaten homes and force evacuations.
With files from the Associated Press.
RAGING WATERS: Watch more incredible flooding footage from California below.
