San Diego fire and lifeguards rescued three people trapped in rising water near San Ysidro Tuesday morning.
Border Patrol agents reported three people stuck in bushes and surrounded by water under the Dairy Mart bridge at the intersection of Camino de la Plaza and Dairy Mart Road.
The men had been out all night in the rain. One was fairly hypothermic, lifeguards said..
Lifeguards crossed the channel on a rescue boat, reached the men and pulled them through the shallow water until they could jump in the boat and get to safety.
“I don’t know the details about how they got there,” said San Diego Lifeguards Lt. John Everhart.
“Typically what happens down here is that people try to cross this river basin and when we get rains, there’s a very large drainage that fills these rivers up. So they rise very quickly,” he said.
The men did the right thing and stayed where they were, according to Everhart.
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Everhart said these rescues are always challenging. The terrain is awkward and dangerous, the rocks are slippery, the mud is think and the water is contaminated.
This rescue was a success, he said, and they are back in service and ready for the next one.
There is a flash flood watch in effect for San Diego County through Wednesday. Something that will likely bring more rescues for the swift water rescue crews.
"The amont of rain that's forecast today and tomorrow, all of our river channels are going to be hazardous," Everhart said.
Click here for your Tuesday forecast.
