Man Rescued From Creek

A man stuck in a 200-foot ravine next to the fast-rushing San Juan Creek was airlifted to safety Tuesday by a Marine Corps Search and Rescue team.

Rescuers said the man, Edward Phee, 30, may have been at the site for as long as eight days, but authorities were unable to determine what he was doing or how he got there.

“He was stuck on a side of the creek that had a cliff that was too steep for him to climb,” said Orange County Fire Department Battalion Chief Dan Runnestrand, who was at the rescue scene.

“It looks like he was able to get to that spot in the canyon when the creek’s water level was lower. But after the rains, the water just got too high and he couldn’t cross.”

Phee was spotted at 12:30 p.m. by state Department of Transportation workers who were repairing a road sign on Ortega Highway, 14 miles east of Interstate 5. He was stranded about 100 yards from the meandering two-lane road.

Although the water in the 10-foot-wide creek was only two to three feet deep, Runnestrand said, it was too swift for Phee or rescuers to cross it.

Instead, a crewman riding in a special Marine helicopter rappelled down to Phee, strapped him into a wire basket, and hoisted him to safety.

“He really wasn’t talking very much,” Runnestrand said. “We weren’t sure of his emotional state. It looked like he had been down there for awhile.”

Phee was taken by ambulance to Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo, where he is in the intensive care unit in stable condition.

The rescue operation took more than two hours and was carried out without a hitch, Runnestrand said. “It was a textbook rescue,” he said. “If it was a drill, it couldn’t have gone any better.”

T.J. Meadows, general manager of the San Juan Basin Authority, said the creek is deceptively dangerous.

“The currents are strong and there are holes that might be 10 feet deep,” Meadows said. “People can misjudge the power of that water. If it’s running real strong, it can be pretty dangerous.”