Heavy Rains Send Swift Water Rescue Teams Into Action

Riverside County fire crews hustled today to keep up with a flood of water-rescue calls.

At 1:15 p.m., county fire personnel were sent to Benton and Winchester roads, in the French Valley area of southwestern Riverside County, on a report of two men stranded on the roof of a submerged vehicle. They were eventually rescued, county fire department spokeswoman Jody Hagemann said.

About noon, crews were dispatched to Two Bunch Palms Trail and Ocotillo Road on a report of separate vehicles trapped in high water. One of the motorists managed to get out safely, and firefighters got the other out when the water receded a bit.

Elsewhere:

— Crews headed to the 76000 block of Desi Drive in Indian Wells, where two men in a car were trapped in a ravine filling with water about 10:30 a.m., Cheri Patterson of the Riverside County Fire Department said. By 11:07 a.m., the men had been freed safely, Patterson said.

— On the other side of the county, in Menifee, crews were dispatched at 7:39 a.m. to Encanto Drive and Ethanac Road, where a vehicle was stranded in a pool of water, with the driver sitting on the roof of the car, Hagemann said.

— At 6:25 a.m., crews rolled to Murrieta and Ridgemoor roads in response to a report of a person trapped, but found no one when they arrived, Patterson said.

— And at 5:43 a.m. fire crews were sent to Canyon Lake Drive North at the East Bay boat ramp in Canyon Lake on a report of a vehicle in the lake, Patterson said. The sheriff’s dive team was sent for at 6:34 a.m., joining Canyon Lake police and CalFire in searching for the vehicle.

Divers searched throughout the day and finally found a vehicle this afternoon, spokeswoman Herlinda Valenzuela said. They planned to pull the vehicle out of the water, but there was no immediate indication whether a person was inside it, Valenzuela said.