In the Eye of the Storm

Some scenes from Southern California’s stormy siege. “I fell in the wash. Please help me!”

--Adam Paul Bischoff, 15, of Woodland Hills yelling to a passerby shortly before the 35-m.p.h. currents of the Los Angeles River swept him to his death.

“If that kid could have held on another half mile I think we could have gotten him.”

--Assistant Fire Chief Tony Ennis, on the attempt to rescue Bischoff.

“This makes a person sick.”

--Arthur Currier, 69, as he gathered his soaked wallet, heart medication and cash from his flooded 32-foot motor home at the Ventura Beach RV Resort trailer park.

“Everybody is rushing out in a frenzy for rubber shoes. . . It’s just amazing.”

--Damita Ziegler, manager of the Eddie Bauer store at the Glendale Galleria.

“They looked like Tinker Toys being washed away.”

--Arnold Hubbard, owner and developer of the Ventura Beach RV Resort.

“I lost everything in there.”

--William Swearington, looking at his flooded Malibu Lake home from high ground.

“The water was raging through there so fast we barely made it.”

--Mark White, 17, after rescuing a woman from the Sand Canyon Wash in Santa Clarita.

“The whole night we didn’t expect to survive until the next day.”

--Sam Bourounsouzian, 17, of Pasadena, rescued by a Sheriff’s Department helicopter after being trapped for a night in the San Gabriel Mountains by a creek that turned into a raging river.

“Well, I found out that the ashtray and console in the middle of the seats hold water.”

--Scott Kubis, as he watched his mud-filled Hyundai Excel removed by a tow truck from the flooded Sepulveda Dam Recreation Area.

“They saw the road was flooded and figured they could get by anyway, but they learned their lesson.”

--Fire Inspector Robert Lockett, who helped rescue motorists stranded on Sand Canyon Road in Santa Clarita.

“The car was like a boat going down the creek.”

--Actor Nick Nolte, who tried to come to the aid of a woman and two young children whose car stalled crossing a creek in Malibu. The woman and children escaped before their BMW sedan was swept away by floodwaters.

“I’m hungry and I want to go to the bathroom.”

--Amy Than, a Camarillo florist, who waited inside for hours while pumps removed eight inches of water from the floor of her shop.