2 Saved From Rain-Swollen Wash : Weather: The teen-agers are swept along for miles before police officer pulls them out. Sudden storm brings scattered flash-flooding.

Two teen-agers were dramatically rescued from a wash swollen by a brief, intense storm Wednesday that brought scattered flash-flooding and hail to Southern California.

The youngsters, both from Pasadena, were carried for miles along the wash before a San Gabriel detective rescued the girl, 13, and saved a 15-year-old boy about 20 minutes later.

San Marino Firefighter Kevin Lennox said he and other firefighters arrived at the Rubio Wash on the city’s border with San Gabriel about 2 p.m., just in time to “see these two heads floating by.”

Firefighters and police in San Gabriel were notified, and several rescuers converged on the scene on Garvey Avenue where the Rubio Wash empties into the Rio Hondo. The dramatic rescue by firefighters, deputies and police was broadcast live on local television.

“About five of us police and firefighters got into the water,” said San Gabriel Police Sgt. Gene O’Connor. Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Ismael Loya was able to grasp the girl, but he was knocked down by the 25-m.p.h. current, O’Connor said.

Rescuers then tied a rope around Detective Mike Hudson, and he was able to get his arms around the girl, O’Connor said. “We all pulled him out,” the sergeant said.

About 20 minutes later, Hudson went back into the wash with a rope around him to pull out the boy. The youngster had held tenuously onto a firefighter, but lost his grip and floated downstream. Two more efforts to reach the boy failed before he was able to float to a shallow area and was pulled out, authorities said.

“A fire company had snagged a hose or a rope across the river, and he hung onto that,” about three miles from where the girl was rescued, O’Connor said. “Detective Hudson went in again after that boy and grabbed him, just like the girl.”

He said there were several rescues within the rescue.

“For a while, it was like everyone was getting washed in the wash and everyone was saving everyone--firemen saving policeman, deputies saving firemen,” O’Connor said. “It was all mixed up, but it worked out well.”

Both youngsters were taken by helicopter to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, where the girl was treated for hypothermia and a broken leg, O’Connor said. The boy was hospitalized with hypothermia. Neither youngster was identified.

In San Diego County, residents of an Escondido neighborhood hit by a freak thunderstorm Tuesday said the city is to blame for damage caused by flooding because it failed to keep drainage areas cleared, which city officials denied.

“I think it is the city’s fault that this happened because debris has not been cleaned from the storm drains,” said John Murphy, who said water was up to his ankles in his house.

No one was hurt in the violent storm that unleashed about three inches of rain in less than an hour. But the fast-moving waters engulfed streets, nearly submerged parked cars and forced residents to wade from their homes through waist-high water to drier ground.

Two-tenths of an inch of rain fell at the Los Angeles Civic Center by midafternoon Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service.

Jerry McDuffie, meteorologist at the weather service office in Los Angeles, said 20.63 inches of rain has been measured at the Civic Center since last July 1. Normal for this date is 13.42 inches, he said.

A total of 7.12 inches of rain was recorded at the Civic Center in March, almost equal to the 7.96 inches that fell downtown during February, McDuffie said.

In Orange County, brief but intense rains and some hail Wednesday caused brief telephone and electrical outages, scattered traffic accidents and some minor flooding.

Some areas of the county reported up to 0.4 of an inch of rain, meteorologists said.

Rick Dittmann, a meteorologist with WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times, said there will be about a 30% chance of showers today, with a few thundershowers mixed in.

“The weekend looks dry, but not tremendously warm,” Dittmann said. High temperatures will range from the mid-60s to the mid-70s along the coast, with inland areas approaching 80, he said.

Times staff writer Eric Young contributed to this story.