2 More Feared Drowned

A mother and son who joined the crowds of holiday picnickers and hikers at Mt. Baldy on Monday were missing and feared drowned after a torrent of mountain runoff swept them down San Antonio Canyon Creek -- the same creek in which an 11-year-old boy disappeared a day earlier.

Sibilina Flores, 35, and Frank Zavala, 11, of El Monte were washed into the roaring canyon flow just after 4 p.m. Witnesses told the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department that the boy had stepped to the banks in a picnic area just north of Mt. Baldy Road and stooped to wash his hands. They said he toppled in and was quickly swept away as his mother jumped in to save him.

Throughout the evening, more than 70 sheriff’s deputies and firefighters from Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties used long poles and powerful floodlights to search the rocky banks. Witnesses said they saw a boy’s body floating under a bridge. Rescuers recovered a shoe that belonged to Zavala, but found no other sign of him or his mother.

The accident happened in the same area where Marcelo Bautista of Huntington Park was swept away Sunday. San Antonio Canyon Creek usually moves very slowly, but recent rain and heavy snowfall in the Mt. Baldy area have raised its level to a 30-year high, rescuers said. It was traveling at up to 40 mph, dragging brush and debris with it.

A Los Angeles County sheriff’s rescue crew that had been searching the creek and a nearby reservoir for Bautista’s body since daybreak was on the scene of the second accident almost immediately. But the late hour and the onset of darkness made search efforts difficult.

“With the combination of deep water, a rugged creek bottom and all types of snags with trees and trash, we’d like to be optimistic, and hope that someone can hold onto one of those snags,” said Los Angeles County Fire Department spokesman Edward Osorio. “But those same snags can hold you down and keep you under the water.”

Two flotation buoys were thrown into the water to test the creek’s speed, and were never located by rescuers -- a testament to the creek’s strength, Osorio said.

Carl Flores, a battalion chief with the Los Angeles County Fire Department, said that the mother and boy disappeared in front of the woman’s husband and her 15-year-old daughter. The father and daughter waited for word for hours before leaving the mountain.

“They’re torn up,” Flores said.

Authorities issued warnings to all sightseers and residents who planned to visit the Mt. Baldy area, urging them to steer clear of the heavy water runoff. However, they said there were no plans to limit access to the creek banks.

The search for the three missing people has focused on the southernmost 5-mile section of the creek. That area includes a large reservoir to the north of the San Antonio Dam, where divers searched for Bautista most of the day Monday.

In addition to the debris and the speed of the water, visibility has been a challenge to search efforts.

“It’s almost like diving in mud,” said L.A. County Sheriff’s Deputy Josie Woolum, “because the water is so murky and the soil below water is so soft.”