Woman Rescued as Car Is Swept Down Creek

A woman screaming that she could no longer hold on as her car was being swept down a rain-swollen creek in Newhall was plucked to safety Thursday by a Los Angeles County firefighter dangling from a ladder extended from a truck parked on the bank.

The dramatic rescue began about 6 p.m. when the victim’s car was washed downstream as she drove across Placerita Creek at Meadview Avenue. It ended nearly an hour later as the woman’s desperate cries for help could barely be heard above the earsplitting roar of the deepening water.

To reach the woman, firefighters jockeyed an aerial truck with a 100-foot ladder between houses so the ladder faced the creek, normally a trickle. The ladder was then extended to the woman. Engineer Frank McCarthy, a member of one of nine specially trained river rescue teams who were on emergency standby duty Thursday, clambered to the end.

Tied to a rope controlled by crew members on shore, McCarthy, 35, dropped about eight feet to the woman and tied a harness under her arms. The ladder was then swiveled, dropping rescuer and the rescued on the bank. Had they fallen, other crew members were stationed downstream ready to throw them ropes or other devices.

The woman, who asked that her named not be released, was taken to Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital, where she was treated for minor injuries and released.

McCarthy, who wore a full wet suit, helmet and flotation device during the rescue, said his first job was to make sure the woman would obey him as he maneuvered her to shore.

“She was pretty hysterical and saying, ‘Why don’t you do anything?’ and ‘I’m going to jump,’ ” McCarthy said.

“When you approach a victim you have to have complete control so I told her: ‘Don’t say anything. Just do as I say.’ I took command of her and she followed what I said.”

The dramatic incident began soon after a cloudburst swept into the area, bringing pounding hail in some areas. The heavy downpour caused widely scattered rush-hour flooding on city streets, freeways and mountain roads.

At one point, the Golden State Freeway near Sheldon Street in Pacoima was under 3 to 4 feet of water, traffic on the southbound San Diego Freeway was backed up for miles from a mudslide near Sunset Boulevard and surface streets near the Sepulveda Basin were inundated.

Hail the size of “corn nuts” hit Sherman Oaks, said Dave Bitran, general manager of Michael J’s Pizza on Ventura Boulevard. “One of my drivers said he had to pull over because he thought his windshield was going to burst.”

Flooding prompted road closures in the Antelope Valley, Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies said, and several Quartz Hill residences were threatened by rising water.

Water was running above the curbs on streets across a wide area of Palmdale and mountain roads near Acton were submerged.

“We’ve got water up to the porch and flowing in the back door,” said Madeline Van Acker, proprietor of the 49er Saloon in Acton.

Asked about the condition of Crown Valley Road there, she said: “What roads? We’re talking white-water rafting out there.”

The restaurant was full. “We’re taking reservations for the booths” for people to sleep there, Van Acker said, only half-joking.

Times staff writer Julie Tamaki contributed to this story.

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