Search cut back for two missing people in last week's storm

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- There are miles of mud and debris in Mariposa County. It's where rescue teams spent Monday searching for 72-year-old Carol Brown after she was swept away by floods. She has yet to be found.

Mariposa Co. Sheriff Doug Binnewies describes the destruction, "The amount of water that went through that area is immense. The debris field is over 10 miles long, it's very extensive. That's really hindered the speed of searching."

Mariposa County Sheriff's deputies say Brown left her home during the storm on Thursday to feed her horses. When she didn't return, her husband went to go look for her and found her 4 wheeler on its side near a creek.

Miles away, deputies also started searching for 67-year-old John Honesto out of Don Pedro after finding his car near Highway 132.

At this point in the search, the department is now scaling back on their extra resources.

"Considering the circumstances for both individuals, we presume both perished in the main storm event. Along with the family, and their friends, we continue to hope and pushed hard to locate the

individuals," said Sheriff Binnewies.

The search still isn't over. The Sheriff's Office will continue to monitor the areas in hopes of finding the victims and bringing some closure to the families.

Along with devastation to families, the storm caused catastrophic damage to roadways. Mariposa County has already spent thousands to fix what they've can. They've filed a disaster proclamation in hopes of getting some federal money to do more repairs.

"We're already obligated over $800,000 just to emergency contractors, said Mariposa County Supervisor Kevin Cann. "That's starting to approach half of our emergency reserve for everything in the county and we've never tapped into the emergency reserve in my 9 years here, so it's a scary process."

The board will endorse the proclamation during their meeting on Tuesday.