Los Angeles [US], November 9: A homeless person was found dead in a wash in Ontario, a city of San Bernardino County located 60 km east of Los Angeles downtown, on Tuesday morning after he and five others were swept away by rainwater running through the flood channel they lived.
In Southern California, many homeless people make camp in the dry tubes and tunnels designed to release flood water during raining season. Tuesday's fatal incident came after a storm hitting the region since Sunday night.
According to the local The San Bernardino Sun newspaper, someone reported six people in the wash at about 9:45 a.m. local time, and the dead man was pulled from the flood in a street near the Ontario airport.
Three other people were rescued and two of them were hospitalized, the city's Fire Chief Raymond J. Gayk said, adding two others were still unaccounted for. The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department dive team was looking for them amid the debris and vegetation, but visibility in the water was poor.
"Search and rescue efforts are still ongoing," the Ontario Fire Department said on its official Twitter account, warning "please stay clear of any riverbed or flood channels."
Due to the heavy rain, a mandatory evacuation order was issued Tuesday morning in some communities in Southern California, and some cities have offered sandbags for residents to prepare for the flood.
Source: Xinhua
