Lifeguards rescued more than a n
people from the San Diego
River during the height
of the storm. We are going to
hear from one of the victims
drying up and clearing out,
but we're going to take a look
at the record rainfall that we
had in spots around the county.
Plus a couple in North County is
shocked to get a $16,000 water .
An organization ready to rescue a puppy for
a Camp Pendleton Marine and his battalion.
But they need your help to pull it off.
And listen up, parents.
Is a sugar high really just a m?
We verify
CBS8 News Live at six starts no.
Cleanup continues across the county tonight
in aftermath of Tropical Storm Hillary.
Good evening. I'm Jesse Pagan
in for Carlo Chichetto.
I'm Marcella Lee. If you neededo
get to Imperial County or Arizo,
today was not the day Caltrans
crews spent the day working
to clear these huge boulders.
Described is the size of school
buses that fell out of the eastd
Interstate 8 and blocked lanes.
This was near Ocotillo.
Chase Golightly has an update
tonight from East County.
We're in Ocotillo right now.
This is on the eastern side of
where the I8 closure begin,
which in total stretches for about 10 miles.
And from where we're standing,
you can actually see the long le
of cars off there in the distane
waiting to head toward San Dieg.
Cars and semi trucks backed up for miles
on I H going to and from San Di.
All because of this
rock slides that developed durig
the height of the storm as a
very large boulders came down
the heavy rain from post Tropicl
Cyclone Hillary causing boulders
the size of school buses to crah
down on eastbound Interstate 8.
It happened Sunday afternoon.
Everett Townsend with California Department
of Transportation said there's y
one way to clear them off the r.
Drilling in into the boulder whe
we can and in placing explosive,
blowing up the boulders bit by ,
which could take a day to comply
clear and repair the Interstate.
In the meantime, they are lettig
those driving eastbound go on to
westbound I8 in 15 minute inters
to try and clear the traffic.
Those heading towards San Diego,
like Riley said they got lucky d
didn't have to wait that long. e
probably only slowed
down about 20 minutes
and then got to pick up again.
But for those on eastbound lanes, dead stop.
I don't even know when
they'll move. It turned
I8 into a parking lot at the Hakumba exit.
Drivers told us they've been waiting a while.
That includes Eric Gillo,
who's heading towards Phoenix. t
45 minutes, about 45 minutes.
Have you moved at all? No, I
haven't moved an inch. People
getting out of their cars,
trying to see how long the line goes.
I already have an 18 hour drive,
so it's whatever is what it is.
The standstill went on for about an hour
before cars were finally able to move.
Now for us traveling W it took us about
2 1/2 hours to get from Hakumba to Akateo
where we are now Caltrans Warning drivers,
if you have to travel this
portion of I ate today,
you're definitely going to want
to give yourself plenty of time.
We're in Akateo Chase,
go lightly CBS8.
Other parts of the county and state are
dealing with flooding and other damage.
We'll have more on that in just
a couple of minutes. But first
let's check in with Chief
Meteorologist Carlene Chavis.
She's tracking what's left of
Hillary and what we can expect.
Carlene, well, thankfully
we're not tracking anything bece
that is out of here by Hillary. Exactly.
Once you got basically the last advisory
that comes through and that hapd
at 11 AM this morning, that's we
no longer tracking it as Hillar.
It's an area of low pressure
that is just moving over Idaho.
We are looking at more rain in e
forecast for that portion of our country.
For us, we're drying out quite nicely,
but it did leave behind some record rainfall.
Over the last couple of days we
saw more than an inch of rainfal
West of the mountains.
That range was about one to two inches.
We even had 2 1/2 inches for Carlsbad.
The bulk of that moisture
was across the mountains,
and we had an upwards of seven
inches of rainfall,
just a little bit more than
that from Mount Laguna.
And we even had about 1 to 2
1/2 inches across the desert.
When we talk about some record rainfall,
not just talking about for a single day,
but let's talk about the
entire month of August.
That's what we had in Escondido yesterday.
The same for Vista and for Koya,
and that was with 2.66 inches.
That was for Escondido broke that old
record which was a little bit me
than about two inches of rainfa.
And for San Diego,
City of San Diego downtown got 2
inches of rainfall received yesterday.
That is the most rainfall that we have
had so far this year and the wet
day that we've had for the city of San
Diego since February 27th back in 2017.
So a whole lot of rainfall.
Because of Hillary,
we're now drying out.
But there is a chance we could e
a few more isolated showers in e
forecast details coming up, Jes.
Thank you, Carlene.
More than a dozen people are sae
tonight after lifeguards rescued
them from flooded areas near the
San Diego River during the stor.
CBS8 Steve Price is live in Misn
Valley tonight, where the river
runs and is calmer today. Steve.
Oh Jesse, I'll tell you
it is a lot calmer today.
In fact, to the point where we
have seen several people return
to their spots along the river,
like that island you see behind.
A very different scene than
what we saw out here last night,
So it's scary. It's really scar.
Christine Lonnie has been
living by the San Diego River
for years and is used to rain.
But what happened Sunday night
totally caught her by surprise.t
came out of nowhere in seconds like we did.
And we were going to right when I said I
think we should move because this looks
like it's going to get a lot wo.
And I really think we should mo.
And as soon as I said that he went out.
My husband went outside and it was too late.
He said it's too late.
Another person living by
the water called 911,
More than a dozen people trappe.
But lifeguards, fearing this could happen,
had rescue teams stationed in the area.
So they got to this spot near
Friars on Marina within minutes
and quickly hopped in the water.
It's incredibly difficult, righ?
You're sitting in the water
in the middle of the night,
You don't know what's underneath you.
There's many reeds and other ars
that could catch you and debris
making a difficult situation wo.
The original 911 call said there
were 20 people stuck by the riv,
but crews only found 13.
Fearing people were swept downstream,
rescuers opened up their search
area and used heat seeking dron.
We searched both sides of the r,
both the South and N sides of the river,
all the way down to the five,
just to make sure we found some structures
on different islands that were in there,
but we didn't find anybody insi.
The San Diego River rose
quickly in several spots,
especially around Fashion Valle.
Check out this drone video we shot today.
Hours after the rain stopped,
roads still flooded,
closed to cars near the
spot where Christine lives.
The water levels finally recede,
but she says all of her belongis
are covered with mud.
She's thankful the storm is gond
hopes she's not still living down here.
The next time it happens,
they think we want to be out he.
We don't want to be out here.
Who the hell wants to be out he?
This is terrible. We don't.
We're not living. We're not.
We're not living. None of us.
Christine also told me that thee
are quite a few more people livg
along the river than before.
She says she's seeing a lot of new faces.
She's guessing at this point, J,
that it's because of the camping ban.
So a lot of people have moved
off the street and down here.
Now Steve, thankfully they're al
safe after tonight after last n.
But you mentioned they used a ht
seeking drone during the rescue.
We see first responders usuallye
a helicopter during rescues like
this if they have one. Last nig,
you know, I talked to the rescus
about that and they said they wd
have preferred to have a helicor
out here because then they could
shine a light on a bigger area.
It's easier to see.
Plus they're up above a great v.
Unfortunately though, Jesse,
because of the weather conditions last
night with the wind and the fog out here,
they were not able to get a helicopter,
which is why really their only option
from above was that drone first
responders also got to try and
stay safe so they can actually p
people while they're out there.
Steve Price live for us tonight.
Steve, thank you.
Meantime, crews are working and clean
up debris in University City whe
eucalyptus tree fell on two hom.
Look at that.
Winds toppled the tree around
5:00 last night.
Three people inside the homes gt
out safely and no one was hurt.
Property managers say they'll
have a better idea of the damage
once the tree is gone.
Leaders here in San Diego County
are praising preparation efforts
for Tropical Storm Hillary,
saying those helped save lives.
This morning city and county officials
thanked everyone for taking the storm
seriously by staying home and of
our roads that help first respos
get to where they needed to be.
Nasty Price just reported lifegs
made 13 swift water rescues yesterday.
Crews were also out warning
people who are unsheltered about
the incoming storm and help move
them out of dangerous areas.
We proactively relocated resides
from the 20th and Be safe sleepg
site in Golden Hill in
less than 24 hours. I'm making
sure that all those people could
be safe and dry during this
event. That is not
easy to do.
The county distributed a total
of 200,000 sandbags to people.
One of the hardest hit areas in Southern
California was in Palm Springs.
Record rainfall created flash flooding
and dangerous road conditions.
Andy Judson from our sister
station in Sacramento was there
for the worst of it last night.
We check in with her today.
Andy, what's it like there now?
I love that the sun is shining
on you after all the rain that
you got pelted with yesterday.
Yeah, we're coming to you a lite
bit drier today than yesterday.
And yesterday we showed you the devastation
those flash floods can bring in, how much
water that they can bring so quickly.
Well, today we're showing you the aftermath.
I'm actually standing in the mie
of a major roadway right here.
This is the Jen Autry roadway ad
it connects I-10 to Palm Spring.
And many people use it to get
from one place to the other,
but obviously, so you can see is
completely closed and washed ou.
But imagine if homes were here.
Well, that's what one neighboring community
in the Cathedral City experienced today.
We spoke with them earlier toda.
Take a listen.
As Tropical Storm Hillary
hit the Palm Springs area,
Jeff Murray packed his bags.
Left at 3:00 to get here.
As president of Orange
County Restoration Services,
he knew residents in the
desert would need his help.
We do catastrophe work like thi,
so we saw what was going on.
So we loaded up some of our lare
trucks and they're on their way.
They landed in Cathedral City,
one of the hardest hit areas in California,
especially the Canyon Mobile Park Community.
It's heart wrenching on one hand
to see in a senior community,
so many homes being really harm,
water underneath, you know,
potential molds going forward.
How's that abatement going to w?
And the flip side is,
who in the desert has flood insurance?
Nancy Ross is a Cathedral
City Council member.
But my most important title tody
is I am a the resident of the Cn
Mobile Home Park in Cathedral City, CA.
She estimates 60 of her
neighbor's homes were flooded,
causing 3 to $5,000,000 in dama.
It was quite a catastrophe yesterday.
It's why Jeff's work is
especially needed here.
Water that came off the ground,
they call it category 3,
it's contaminated.
And so between the bacteria and between
the water and the warm temperat,
you will have a lot of bacteriad
a lot of mold growing very quic.
But neighbors are also relying on each other.
You should see this community come together,
people by the scores literally
coming out with brooms and
shovels and cleaning up.
Now hurricane turned tropical Sm
Hillary actually broke the recod
here in Palm Springs and some
surrounding regions for rainfal,
the amount of rainfall in a single day.
So that just shows how much water is here.
And we're actually still
seeing the water flowing right here on what
is supposed to be the roadway.
So crews have a long ways to go until
they're back to normal here in Palm Springs.
We'll continue to keep you upda,
but I'll send it back to you in studio.
Thanks. So Andy, Palm Springs
obviously a very popular place
San Diego to travel to and from,
how does that road closure impact people
perhaps coming or leaving Palm Springs?
Yeah, actually we've heard some
frustration because it's much hr
to get to into Palm Springs than
normal because of the aftermathf
Hillary and actually Jeff who yu
heard from in our package there
are report he came in to help wh
restoration and help the folks impacted.
He said he had to leave at 3:00 AM and
it took him way longer than normal to
get from Orange County to Palm Springs.
But it's not just the roadways, actually.
Yesterday, the Palm Springs airport was
also shut down because of the s.
So people are just now trying to figure
out how to get in and out safel.
The airport is back to normal.
But As for the roadways,
we still have a little ways to .
All
right. So maybe if it's not essential
that you go to or from for our viewers
here in San Diego, maybe the, you know,
wait a few more days for them to
be able to do some more clean u.
Thank you so much for that live report, Andy.
We want to say a big thank you
to all of you who sent in your
photos and videos during Hillar.
This right here is an example of just
one of the videos that we recei.
Cheryl Allison from Ramona sents
this video of a family of ducks coming
indoors to escape from the rain,
eating a little food that she
left there for them. Very cute.
Don't forget you don't have
to wait for a big storm.
You can send us videos and photf
weather events, beautiful sunse,
images that are newsworthy
or of interest anytime.
All you need to do is go to oure
CBS8 app and then so easy on the bottom,
there's a Near Me section and you can
submit your photo or video you just upload.
It takes boom.
Just a second or two.
And make sure you tell us your
name and your neighborhood and
we might share your photo on TV.
Still ahead the El Nino that's building
as we deal with the aftermath of Hillary.
And Speaking of the storm, it's
also bringing some unwanted gues
into some of your homes where
these tarantulas were found
hiding in people's homes.
And the couple who came to us
with their $16,000 water bill,
well, we're working for you
and them to get answers.