LOS ANGELES — An Orange County swift water rescue team on Saturday successfully airlifted to safety a woman who was trapped and clinging to a tree in a creek bed overwhelmed by rushing waters.
The county’s Fire Authority received a distress call at 3:28 p.m. and dispatched an air and ground crew to a flooded creek near the 24400 block of Christina Court in Laguna Hills.
A helicopter crew member was able to pluck the woman out of the rushing water using a harness. The woman was then hoisted to a clear landing where firefighters and paramedics were waiting, said Orange County Fire Authority Captain Thanh Nguyen.
Nguyen said the woman was checked by medical personnel but declined treatment. She returned safely to her family.
Teams of firefighters from several Orange County cities, including Fullerton, Anaheim and Costa Mesa, have formed a strike team to offer assistance in such emergencies as a series of storms continues to pound California.
The successful rescue came just a few days after 5-year-old Kyle Doan was swept away in flood waters in San Luis Obispo County. More than 120 members of the California National Guard recently joined the search for the boy.
