Bishop - Man swept up in slide 'lucky to be alive'

7-17-2008

Don “Rock” Wood lived up to his nickname Saturday evening when he body-surfed a 15-foot high wall of mud, water, boulders and trees one mile down Oak Creek Saturday night, escaping the treacherous mud slide with nothing more than cuts, scrapes, bumps and bruises.
Wood, a resident of Oak Creek, is the only resident involved in Saturday’s flooding and mud slide that suffered any significant injuries, but the extent of his inflictions are minor compared to the ordeal he went through that night.
“He is lucky to be alive,” said Inyo County Sheriff’s Department Public Information Officer Carma Roper, “it’s nothing short of a miracle. But he has lost everything, as have many people.”

Wood was in his motor home in Oak Creek at about 5:30 p.m. Saturday, cooking dinner when the flooding started.
“The next thing I knew huge oak trees were coming through my living room,” Wood said.
In an attempt to escape, Wood began punching out the top vents on his motor home, but eventually, he said, the mud and debris began to rip his home apart.
“All you could hear was this crunching metal sound, and the next thing I knew a six- to eight-foot wave of mud and rocks and trees and water hit me,” he said.
Growing up on the beach, Wood was an avid surfer and body surfer, and when he was swept up in the flood waters, his survival instincts from years in the ocean told him to go with the flow until he could get out of the water.
“I body-surfed it for about a mile and I could see boulders as big as houses and massive oak trees. I just tried to stay away from the big rocks in the stream that weren’t going anywhere.”
Wood was pummelled by debris but just kept surfing downstream, waiting for the current to slow down enough for him to make it to dry ground.
“I have another vehicle, a Ford Ranger, and I looked back and I could see it coming at me. It was coming for me and it was going to hit me, so I started swimming sideways, like you do in a rip-tide.”
Wood got to an area shallow enough for him to stand up, but he only had a quick breather, as another wave of mud and debris came barreling towards him.
“That next wave took me and smashed me into a rock, and I thought I was gone then,” he said, “I felt like I was suffocating.”

Don “Rock” Wood, who lost his home and body-surfed down a debris-strewn mud slide moving at about 30 miles per hour, suffered only lacerations, bumps and bruises from the mile-long ride down the harsh flood rapids. Photo by Mike Gervais

But, along with more rocks, trees and debris, Wood just kept body surfing with the flow of the flood. He said as he was being pushed downstream with the floodwaters, he was thinking about his neighbor, Keith Bright (who Wood later learned lost his ranch upstream from Oak Creek), and the fish at the Mt. Whitney Fish Hatchery.
Farther downstream, Wood said the flood slowed from about 30 miles per hour to about 15 mph, and he was able to reach dry ground and climb out of the mud.
The debris had stripped him of his shorts and shirt, leaving him in his underwear and socks.
“I could see the fish hatchery, and that was my goal, because I knew someone was there, but the flood came down like arms, so I had four or five streams to cross before I could get there. They weren’t streams, they were rivers, and I just couldn’t make it,” Wood said.
Exhausted, beaten by rocks and covered in mud, Wood decided to wait for help, but after a few minutes, he said, lightning began striking all around him, and he knew he had to keep moving and get to shelter.
“So I started hiking, waste- and chest-deep in mud, all the way to the hatchery, where the fire department was waiting,” he said. “When I got there, I was covered all over with mud two inches thick.”
An ambulance was at the hatchery and transported Wood to Southern Inyo Hospital where he was treated for severe cuts and bruising. Miraculously, that was the extent of his injuries, as he suffered not a single broken bone.
“The crews and doctors at Southern Inyo (Hospital) were just unbelievable, I just really want to thank them,” Wood said. He also expressed sincere thanks to the Inyo Mono Advocates for Community Action, his coworkers, the Red Cross and the owners of the Mt. Williamson Motel, who he said have been like parents to him.
“I’m happy to be alive,” Wood said with a smile. “I guess they found parts of my motor home down stream 15 feet up in a tree.”