500 Church Camp Children Among Thousands Stranded In Southern California Flash Flooding

Thousands of people, including 500 children attending a church camp, were stranded in San Bernardino County, California Monday after severe rain storms caused massive rock mudslides and flash flooding.

Authorities with the San Bernadino County Fire Department reported that 2,500 people were stranded in the county's mountainous region Sunday and Monday as massive mudslides engulfed roads and vehicles. One person was killed after being swept away in their car by fast-moving waters.

Authorities are focusing specific attention on a campground in Forest Falls, California, where an estimated 500 children from a church camp are suspected of being stranded from the engulfing mudslides.

"Our concern is that they're isolated at that campground and no longer have access out of the mountain," San Bernardino County Fire spokesman Kyle Hauducoeur said.

The spokesman added that ongoing harsh weather has made rescue efforts more difficult. "The rain in this area, at times, was the equivalent of what you would see from a major hurricane."

San Bernadino Fire Capt. Josh Wilkins added to the Los Angeles Times that resources are being stretched as rescue attempts are made in the area. "Every rescue unit we have, every fire engine we have in San Bernardino County" has been deployed, Wilkins told the Los Angeles Times. "We are literally approaching the maximum right now in terms of our call volume."

The thunderstorms that hit San Bernardino County only lasted an hour, but dumped an immense four-inches of rain that, in such a short span of time, caused flash flooding, mudslides and evacuations in the area, spreading from Glendora to Oak Glen. As of Monday afternoon, firemen were reportedly in the process of rescuing the 500 children from the church camp located in Forest Falls.