INLAND EMPIRE – (INT) – Standing water still covers some rural areas in the aftermath of the Valentine's Day storm.

Rescue teams are being called out to bring people to safety.

Near Lake Elsinore Friday night, three people were stranded on the roof of their vehicle that had stopped in 3-feet of water on Hostettler Road in Alberhill.

Dozens of people were rescued from rivers and storm channels during Thursday’s storm.

During a 5-hour period, fifteen people and three pets were rescued. That number eventually more doubled to in excess of fifty. Most suffered little or no injuries.

But in Corona, one woman died of cardiopulmonary arrest after she was pulled from a flood channel. A 20-year-old homeless woman died Friday after being swept away in a storm channel upstream in Riverside. The woman and her boyfriend had been living in the channel near Indiana and La Sierra Avenues when they got caught in what was described as ‘neck high’ water early Friday.

James Felix, 35, and Stacie Mills-Nichols, 20, were swept downstream. A citizen spotted Felix resulting in his rescue, but his girlfriend was found later by searchers and could not be revived at a local hospital.

Raging torrents in the Santa Ana River trapped several others. Most were pulled into rescue helicopters. Specially-trained law enforcement officers carried out rescues in Redlands, Gilman Springs, San Jacinto, Jurupa Valley, French Valley, Menifee, Temecula, and Desert Hot Springs.

Thursday’s storm resulted in the most swift water rescues ever in a single day in the Inland Empire, authorities said.

Story Date: February 18, 2019