'No Way In Or Out': Hundreds Trapped By Mud And Rain Brought To California By Hilary

Southern California is continuing to dig itself out of the mud and rain that trapped hundreds of people after Tropical Storm Hilary shattered accumulation records across the region.

Emergency personnel in the desert community of Cathedral City, near Palm Springs, drove a bulldozer through the mud to a swamped care home and rescued 14 residents by scooping them up and carrying them to safety, Fire Chief Michael Contreras said.

"We were able to put the patients into the scoop. It's not something that I've ever done in my 34 years as a firefighter, but disasters like this really cause us to have to look at those means of rescue that aren't in the book and that we don't do every day," he said at a news conference.

SEE ALSO: Missing Woman Swept Away In Her Trailer During Hilary Flooding

It was one of 46 rescues the city performed between late Sunday night and the next afternoon from mud and water standing up to 5 feet. Mud inundated some streets in Cathedral City, and video from the scene showed multiple vehicles trapped in the muck, including at least one recreational vehicle.

Hilary first slammed into Mexico's arid Baja California Peninsula as a hurricane, causing one death and widespread flooding before becoming a tropical storm. So far, no deaths, serious injuries or extreme damages have been reported in California, though officials warned that risks remain, especially in the mountainous regions where the wet hillsides could unleash mudslides.

Most local rainfall records were broken Sunday thanks to the almost daylong downpours brought on by the rare tropical storm. Mount San Jacinto reported 11.74 inches, according to the National Weather Service. A wind gust of 87 mph was recorded around 3 a.m. Monday at the Magic Mountain Truck Trail.

SEE ALSO: Tropical Storm Hilary Photos: The Dramatic Aftermath

Beverly Hills received nearly 5 inches. The 2.48 inches that fell in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday alone made it the wettest August day ever downtown, breaking the record of 2.06 inches set on Aug. 17, 1977.

Mud and boulders spilled onto highways, water gushed onto roadways and tree branches fell in neighborhoods from San Diego to Los Angeles. Dozens of cars were trapped in floodwaters in typically hot and dry Palm Desert and surrounding communities across the Coachella Valley. Crews pumped floodwaters out of the emergency room at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage.

In the San Bernardino Mountains, responders worked to clear mud that blocked the homes of about 800 residents, Cal Fire Battalion Chief Alison Hesterly said.

A massive boulder-filled mudslide in the Forest Falls area sent firefighters running for safety and blocked the roadway from their fire station. Their dramatic escape was captured on video.

SEE ALSO: Hit Hard By Hilary, Cathedral City Digging Out Of Mud, Water, Debris

In the Coachella Valley city of Desert Hot Springs, Steven Michael Chacon said the roads in the housing development where he and his husband live were impassable due to flooding and he was concerned emergency crews might not be able to reach people.

"Basically everybody's got to stay put, there's no way in or out," he said Monday morning.

Authorities also say a woman was unaccounted for after witnesses saw her trailer swept away in a flash flood.

Hilary likely dumped the equivalent of a full year's worth of rain on Death Valley National Park, forcing the park to be closed indefinitely and leaving about 400 people sheltering at Furnace Creek, Stovepipe Wells and Panamint Springs until roads could be made passable, park officials said.

Emergency crews in San Diego on Sunday night rescued 12 people from a riverbed who were believed to be unhoused, authorities said.

Downed trees or branches were reported across Los Angeles, with more than 1,000 such cases referred to city crews.

The Monday morning commute was impacted by several closures, including a mudslide that blocked one lane on the Hollywood Freeway near Universal Studios. Lanes on the Golden State Freeway in the Sun Valley area were also blocked due to flooding.

Interstate 10 was closed Monday until around 2 p.m. from Date Palm Drive to Bob Hope Drive. The closure was due to mudslides in the eastern Coachella Valley, according to California Highway Patrol spokesman Jason Montez.

Los Angeles Unified School District campuses were closed Monday and the San Diego Unified School District rescheduled its first day of school for Tuesday.

Officials declared emergencies in Los Angeles, San Diego and Riverside counties, and Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a State of Emergency as well.

SEE ALSO: Federal Law Makers Urge Biden To Declare Disaster In RivCo

An evacuation order was in place from Sunday morning into Monday for the Mias zone in the Apple/El Dorado burn scar, north of Banning and near the Morongo Reservation, according to the Riverside County Emergency Management Department. A voluntary evacuation warning was issued for Highland Springs, Beaumont, Hemet, Banning and Reche Canyon Road in Colton.

Hilary resulted in Southern California's first-ever tropical storm warning. Before Sunday, a tropical storm had not made landfall in the state since 1939.

The storm wasn't the only act of nature to upend daily life in California on Sunday. Southern California got another surprise in the afternoon as an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.1 hit near Ojai, about 80 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It was followed by dozens of aftershocks.

SEE ALSO: Coachella Valley Works To Recover Amid Hilary's Devastation

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

City News Service contributed to this story.