Mudville

From this morning’s OC Reg:

• Canyons brace for 2nd round today; more rain expected:

.....The rain transformed Trabuco Creek from a trickle to a 30-foot-wide river, causing some minor flooding at O'Neill Park. A swift-water dive team had to rescue a Rancho Santa Margarita man after he was swept off his motorcycle while riding on a creek-side trail.
.....At Cook's Corner, manager Rhonda Palmeri watched as a nearby creek surged over its bank. Thick, sludgy mud and debris poured across Live Oak Canyon Road and smother a small, white car as she and about 10 patrons in the bar rushed to close doors.
.....But the mud was coming too fast. It swept through the bar, knocking down tables, burying stools and flipping over a cooler. More than 12 people had to use chainsaws and shovels to dig themselves out.
....."It was unbelievable – if you got outside the door, the mud would have swept you away," Palmeri said.
…..
.....In Modjeska Canyon on Thursday, Bill La Bar heard the sound of crashing rocks as a nearby hillside gave way. He ran outside and shouted at a group of school children in Modjeska Wilderness Preserve to get out.
.....Then he and his dog jumped into his truck and got out themselves.
.....Boulders the size of basketballs crashed through the La Bar's white fence, knocking the slates more than six feet into their front yard. Mud and water swept into one room of the house and into the barn, where the La Bar's kept a collection of horseshoes for good luck. The mud reached to the windows of a motor home parked nearby.
…..
.....Carlie Dearborn, 34, watched from the second floor of her canyon home as a wall of mud careened through a drainage ditch and crashed through the sliding doors on the first floor.
.....The mud filled a bedroom, flowed through the house and the garage and poured into the front yard, carrying household belongs with it.

• Motorcyclist gets stranded on Trabuco Creek island:

.....A motorcyclist swept from his bike was rescued by swift-water dive teams late Thursday night.
.....According to police, the Rancho Santa Margarita man had been riding along Trabuco Creek when a flash flood pulled him off his bike and swept him 3 miles down the fast-moving river.
.....He managed to stop himself and pulled himself to safety on an island but was trapped by high water on both sides near Oso and Antonio Parkway. He called 911.
.....The Sheriff's Swift Water Dive Team assisted the Orange County Fire Authority to get the man out of the water.