"Tiffany and Akira Shimbo were both on Zoom work calls on Dec. 14 when they heard a roaring crash outside their home in Silverado Canyon, a sylvan outpost 45 miles southeast of Los Angeles. Akira ran outside and saw a wave of fast-moving mud and water topping their fence and shoving their Jacuzzi, garden beds and more into raging Silverado Creek just below them.
“It sounded just like a car accident, only over and over,” said Tiffany Shimbo.
Tiffany pulled Akira through a window to safety as floodwaters and debris flows raged on three sides of their home. They waited three hours until the waters receded. The house stood, they and their 5-year-old daughter were alive, but they would soon learn that neither their insurance nor government disaster relief programs would help them."
Janet Wilson and Kyle Bagenstose report for the Palm Springs Desert Sun January 25, 2022.