The Gamboa family isn’t quite sure how they’re going to get back into their home in Wrightwood.
When a powerful atmospheric river began drenching Southern California this week, they were forced to leave as the hills around them dissolved into a river of mud and debris, which by Friday was drying and hardening into a 3-foot wall blocking their doors and windows.
Since Wednesday, they’ve been staying with neighbors. They have no idea what the condition of the inside of their home is or how they’ll access it, said the homeowner, Robert Gamboa.
“I’m trying to figure things out,” Gamboa said. “All it is is rock and mud.”
Like many others across the Southland, the Gamboas are waiting to assess the damage from the worst winter storm to hit Southern California in recent memory.
In the last few days, the governor has declared emergencies in Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Shasta counties as the toll of the persistent rain and snow has mounted.
More than 10 inches of rain fell in parts of the San Gabriel Mountains in Los Angeles County during a 48-hour period ending Thursday.
In the San Gabriel Valley, crews rescued a woman after she was swept away in the San Jose Creek near Fullerton Road and the 60 Freeway.
At the Pacoima Wash in San Fernando, a person called 911 to report seeing a woman in the fast-moving waters, the Los Angeles Fire Department said. Crews were using markers to try to find the woman, who was wearing all black and traveling at 25 miles per hour in three feet of water. They did not find her.
The storm has knocked over trees, caused car crashes and knocked out power for thousands across the state. But in the Southland, no place was hit harder than Wrightwood, where terrain is vulnerable to a heavy downpour because of the 56,000-acre Bridge fire that burned in the area last year.
For now, Robert Gamboa, his wife and brother, are keeping warm with a fireplace and wood, using headlamps for light, and ice bags from a nearby gas station to make do while they stay with their neighbor.
His brother at one point suggested they try to dig their way into the house with shovels — at least a four-hour job — but were reluctant to begin when the rain continued falling Friday, increasing the chances of yet more mud and debris flows.
Community member Misty Cheng, on the other hand, said it will probably take heavy machinery to see what the damage is to her home and probably many others in the community.
Mud has filled her house on Oriole Road to the point where she has to crawl just to squeeze into it.
“This isn’t a thing where, ‘Oh let’s get some neighbors and friends help with shovels’ situation,” she said.
She had been remodeling before the rain. Now, she’s waiting to dig out her home to find out if it’s even habitable.
She’s started a GoFundMe pageto either help fix the damage, or move on if her home cannot be salvaged.
Roads through and around Wrightwood were also damaged in the storm.
Both directions of the Angeles Crest Highway were closed indefinitely Friday morning starting from 3.3 miles east of Newcomb’s Ranch near Three Points to State Road 138 in Cajon Junction due to emergency work, according to Caltrans.
State Road 173 was closed in both directions from Route 138 to Lake Arrowhead Road with no estimated reopening.
A total closure of State Road 39 from 2 miles North of Crystal Lake Road to the Angeles Crest Highway was also in effect due to weather conditions.
Big Pines Highway was closed from Angeles Crest to Largo Vista Road as of Friday morning.
Asphalt was washed away on Big Pines Highway and callers on Christmas told the California Highway Patrol that hundreds of vehicles were getting stuck trying to pass large boulders in the roadway, the CHP reported.
A videoposted by Caltrans on X showed the intersection of State Road 18 and Sheep Creek Road looking more like a river on Christmas Eve, with a car potentially stuck in the mud in the foreground.
And despite state traffic officials asking for drivers to avoid closed and flooded roads, people were driving through Summit Valley Road from State Road 138 to the Hesperia city limits Friday morning, requiring San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies to assist.
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