North Fork residents forced to flee from flood waters

NORTH FORK, Calif. (KFSN) -- Families in Madera County were forced to leave their homes in North Fork late Sunday night.

Mandatory evacuation orders have forced dozens of people from their homes. Streets and yards have given way to flooding, leaving it impossible to drive through.

"Pretty scary, where do you go?" resident Jonathan Cornwell said. "I was getting ready to go to bed go to sleep when all these sheriff's deputies came in."

The normally calm Willow Creek is now a raging river after the latest storm caused it to overflow and flooded the area overnight.

"I've never seen it this bad," Cornwell said. "It's never been up this high."

Resident Tyler Bomaccorsi can't leave even if he wanted to. His family refused to listen to Madera County Sheriff's deputies orders. Now his SUV is completely submerged.

"I told my mom we need to get out of here," he said. "We got the evacuation and she's like, 'I'm going to stay. I got the dogs. I don't want to leave. I'm just going to stay.' I was like, 'At least move your car.' And she goes, 'No, it'll be fine.' Well, I'm pretty sure she can't get her car out now."

Don Grove runs the North Fork Visitors Center and said "most of the people, when they're evacuated, whether it's the fires or floods, they have relatives or friends they can go stay with. Very seldom do they have to go to an evacuation center."