Outdoor Adventure USA

ALPINE, Calif. -- Flash floods in the desert areas east of San Diego caused some frightening moments for a father and son who were hiking in an area south of Ocotillo Wells on Monday.

According to Sgt. Jon Shellhammer, a pilot with the San Diego County Sheriff’s Aerial Support Detail, the men managed to get to higher ground when torrential rains led to a 15-foot wall of water that filled a canyon near the Silent Caves and Split Mountain Road.

Their pickup truck did not fare as well. It was swept away by the raging waters and later found a mile and a half away from where it had been parked. The truck looked like it had rolled down a mountainside, with boulders and vegetation from the flood in the passenger compartment and under what was left of the hood.
Shellhammer told 10News the men called 911 from their cell phones and were able to direct the ASTREA helicopter to their location with the help of a flashlight.
"They were very calm," said Shellhammer. "They had sought refuge back in the caves when the storm hit and they knew that was their only way out was a helicopter. They were just hunkered down waiting for us to show up to fly them out of there."
Shellhamer told 10News in 24 years of flying in that area, he has never seen anything like it.
"I've always heard about flash floods, but have never experienced it personally, had no idea how much rain really runs out in that desert," he said.
The men, who live in Pomona, were unhurt.