Campers in California Trapped by Wall of Mud
PEREIRA: Let's head to the West right now. Drought-stricken California is now coping with too much water at once. In fact, one person lost their live with their vehicle was swept into a creek.</s>BERMAN: Of even greater concern the fate of 500 children and adults in a church camp in the mountains. Authorities were able to make contact with the camp. They determined everyone is safe, although the way out is block.</s>PEREIRA: Our Ted Rowlands joins us now on the phone. It is good to have you, Ted. I know you are heading to the area. Such a concern, given the drought-like conditions that plague the entire state and all of this deluge, this water that comes down. It is a real concern. What do you know about the plan to evacuate that campground?</s>TED ROWLANDS, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There's a lot of clean up. There's bulldozers out to try to open up the roadways here. They received four and a half, almost five inches of rain in a very short time over the week. If you look at the pictures, it's just amazing, the wall of mud that came crashing down, engulfing vehicles. We mentioned the fatality. An individual's car was completely overrun with mud. As far as the campers go, they are all right. They're not young kids. We're talking about middle school, high school campers. There's adults there. They have plenty of food. I'm sure it's unnerving for them, but they are safe. Authorities believe they'll be able to get to them at some point today. There is a lot of work to do.</s>BERMAN: All right. Thanks so much. Get to that site. Tell us what you see when you get there. Appreciate you with being with us. Also joining us by phone is Ryan Beckers from the San Bernardino Fire Department. Thanks so much for being with us, Ryan. What's the latest from your end?</s>RYAN BECKERS, SPOKESMAN, SAN BERNARDINO FIRE DEPARTMENT (voice-over): The latest is all pretty good news. I wanted to clear one misconception. The fatality that has been talked about was a separate incident about 50 miles away. Same weather system, and I don't have much information on it, but I just want the folks from Forest Falls to know there were no fatalities in the incident that occurred there. And as a matter of fact great news, so far, everybody has been determined accounted for and safe.</s>PEREIRA: That is really great news. We're happy to pass that information along. Give us an idea of what we're looking at. You and I both know that southern California is in the midst of a terrible drought. I imagine its share of forest fires. Is all of that kind of combining to make the situation what it is?</s>BECKERS: The thing about this particular community, as you may remember from the -- covering out here, the community of Forest Falls is built in such a way, in a canyon, that any time they get rainfall, this is an event. Lots of residents tell me this is pretty bad. It's a huge wall of mud sort of cutting off the town. The good news is our crews with county roads and county fire, the sheriff's department, the Forest Service, have all -- we've been able to punch through that last wall of mud and we're able to get through, so folks stranded on the other side can start making their way out of town if needed.</s>BERMAN: That's great news. Let me ask you this. Given the way the weather's been and the forecast for the rain, was it a mistake for those people to be there right now in these conditions?</s>BECKERS: No, this community is -- thrives on its campers and its hikers. This kind of thing comes up so suddenly, I think it would be incorrect to make that kind of judgment.</s>PEREIRA: Those campers we've heard about, they're essentially sheltering in place. Other folks, are they able to get in and out? Are the roads being cleared? How are things looking for today?</s>BECKERS: What happens is there are numerous mudslides that cut off the main road through town, the only road in and out of town. Each time one of those walls of mud is cleared off, the people, who live in that part of the town, are able to get out, if needed. Those on the other, see, until those walls are cleared, they're still stranded. So there were still about 100 folks who were out of town, so to speak, who sheltered in place overnight at the community center. By now, they should be about getting ready to be -- able to be evacuated. And the campers, there were hundreds of kids who were -- as you know, just coming up there for a week in the mountains. They all sheltered in place until the road is clear for them to start evacuating once enough transportation is arranged for them.</s>PEREIRA: How's the weather looking today?</s>BECKERS: Muggy and warm but holding off on the rain so far.</s>PEREIRA: We'll take it. Ryan Beckers, we want to say a big thank you to you. He's the PIO from the San Bernardino Fire Department there, letting us know about the situation. That is a concern. We see all of that water. What a mess those folks deal with.</s>BERMAN: Luckily, they're safe. Coming up, a three-day ban on tap water in Ohio is lifted. So you want to take a sip of that?</s>PEREIRA: No thanks.</s>BERMAN: We'll discuss, next.