The Worst Flash Flood I personally had to survive in California

I was driving my 1968 Camaro so this likely was between 1968 when I bought it new and around 1970 or 1971. I was driving from the High Desert above Yucca Valley off of Old Woman springs road then towards the then dirt road up to Big Bear. I'm not sure you can drive all the way through now because property owners have blocked it the last time I tried to drive from Big Bear down this way a few years ago while 4 wheeling with my son.

But, then I was driving my 1968 Camaro and sort of exploring on a paved road that headed towards the dirt road up to Big Bear from that area. And suddenly out of the mountains came a wall of water about 3 to 4 feet high. I knew immediately it would kill me and destroy my car so I burned rubber spinning my car around suddenly so I wouldn't be swept away with the high water because I knew it would take my wheels off the ground and run me across the desert where I and my car would be finished. So, basically I outran the water by burning rubber, doing a 180 degree turn suddenly and before the water hit my car I burned rubber in the opposite direction and went 70 to 90 miles per hour away from the ongoing water from the mountains in my car. Luckily the paved road was built where I could actually go in the opposite direction from the wall of water coming across the desert.

I survived this situation only because I saw the water and knew what it was I was looking at fast enough to save myself. First, you cannot believe what you are seeing because I had never seen anything like that before in person. So, there is a split second where you cannot believe what is happening before something explodes inside yourself and you just take charge so you can survive something like this.

However, when I was younger while driving with my father in a somewhat similar area only nearer to Lucerne Valley I was driving towards this same area when someone passed us going about 90 miles per hour. This would have been around 1960 when I was 12 years old riding with my father. Later we came upon this man with his new car with the hood, and front fenders bent up 4 to 6 feet in the air because he had hit flash flooding of about 4 to 5 feet deep on the desert roads and had completely destroyed his car. Back then in the 1950s cars had fenders separate from the main car and hitting the water that deep at around 90 mph had bent them straight up into the air. It was one of the strangest things I have ever seen. We didn't have seat belts then so he must have held onto the steering wheel so he didn't go through the windshield when he hit the water with that much force and speed.

When you have mountains and desert combined (ANYWHERE) in the western states including California and you see Rain Clouds ANYWHERE within 50 miles of you, just realize that water can come to you in all sorts of ways like down usually dry washes or out of the mountains and onto the deserts. Just because you haven't seen this happen before doesn't mean it can't happen. I have experienced this now and it is pretty overwhelming to survive something like this first hand.