Woman and her dog missing after mudflows slam parts of San Bernardino County — Officials say two mudflows have swept through parts of San Bernardino County, destroying homes, businesses and the city of San Bernardino.
One woman, her dog and a pet cat have been pulled from the mudflows in San Bernardino.
Officials say the woman, whose identity has not been released, had been visiting her dog in South San Bernardino County after her dog got sick on Tuesday. She left her car where the dog can lie down with her. Then she made a wrong turn, but continued on until she couldn’t go any farther.
She says the dog sat down to rest in a field and that’s when the mudflow hit. When she couldn’t go any farther and couldn’t wake up her dog, she tried to dig her way out and that’s when she saw the mud.
Officials are looking for the woman, who is described as being in her 50s or 60s, with brown hair, and being about 5 feet, 4 inches tall.
A car was also found floating in the mudflows. Officials are looking for the driver, whose identity has not been released.
The mudflows were triggered by two separate rain events on Tuesday, said officials. A storm with large hail and heavy rain that hit the South Coast Tuesday afternoon. Then a storm with heavy rain and large hail that struck parts of Riverside County and San Bernardino Tuesday evening.
Aerial video showed huge mounds of mud coming out of the San Bernardino Mountains and washing out the streets in search of the woman and her dog.
The mudflows started about a mile from where the dog was found Wednesday morning and continued for more than a half mile.
The mud was so deep it washed cars into rivers and destroyed several mobile homes, officials said.
Some houses in the areas where mud was washed away were destroyed, but some people were able to save their belongings.
Crews were called in to help people get their belongings out and out of the mud.
It took days to recover the woman and her dog and to clean up the mud.
Officials say the mudflows are considered a natural occurrence.
The mudflows can travel down steep mountain slopes for hundreds of yards. It’s common for them to hit homes with driveways, but they can also happen without leaving a driveway, officials say.