Grief, Relief Along the River

An elderly woman died and another was believed drowned when their car plunged into the swollen San Gabriel River in Long Beach on Thursday.

Separately, about 135 people were expected to remain stranded for weeks after the same river washed away three bridges above Azusa.

The woman, 88, was in a car that drove past a guard shack at the Haynes Power Plant about 5:30 p.m. and drove around the property with a guard in pursuit, authorities said. The vehicle went onto a dirt road near the river and slid down a 30-foot embankment into the river, which had risen to 12 feet, said Mike Garcia, a battalion chief with the Long Beach Fire Department.

A Fire Department dive team believed at first they were looking for one woman. They retrieved the 88-year-old’s body 150 feet downriver and still inside the car, Garcia said. Her name wasn’t released.

While inspecting the car on shore, they found the purse of another elderly woman, to whom the car was registered.

“That woman is now unaccounted for,” said Nancy Pratt, a Long Beach police spokeswoman. “We believe she too may be in the water.”

Late Thursday night, divers were again searching the river.

Meanwhile, year-round residents of Follows Camp were expected to remain stranded for two weeks after all the bridges to their camp washed away last weekend. They are running short of medicine and food and are now relying on Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department helicopter airlifts to deliver supplies to the site, about 15 miles north of Azusa.

“For a while, we were certain we were going to die,” said Lt. Tim Dowling, a full-time resident and a member of the Follows Camp Volunteer Fire Department. “We’ve been spending all our time sandbagging and trying to divert where the river flows.”

Authorities are assessing the damage to the bridges -- which once crossed the East Fork of the San Gabriel River -- and are considering rebuilding with temporary bridges, which could take weeks, said Brenda Hunemiller of the Area D Office of Disaster Management, a locally and federally funded agency.

On Wednesday, a cardiac patient and a 10-year-old Glendora boy separated from his family were airlifted out. Residents also restored a 1920s-era steel trolley that could be tugged across a rope over the river. The contraption, big enough to fit two people, was used to haul in much needed baby diapers and pet food, said Dowling in a telephone interview Thursday.

Despite unreliable phone lines, residents still have electricity and spend most evenings watching television to pass the time. Dowling said nightly meetings at the campground’s Fort Restaurant have helped restore morale.

“Human nature is a miraculous thing,” Dowling said.

In the Hollywood Hills, portions of Coldwater Canyon Drive and Laurel Canyon Boulevard were reopened Thursday after being closed for much of the week. But other canyon roads, notably Mulholland Drive, remain closed.

Times staff writers Sam Quinones, Veronica Torrejon contributed to this report.