Man who drowned in Ontario floodwaters during record-breaking storm identified

Authorities have identified the person who drowned after being swept away by floodwaters in Ontario during Tuesday’s record-breaking storm in Southern California.

The man was identified as Anthony Ray Lopez Sr., 63, of Ontario by the San Bernardino County Coroner. The Ontario Police Department responded about 9:46 a.m. to a drowning report at a water basin at East Philadelphia and South Baker Avenue. Lopez was pronounced dead at the scene about 12:04 p.m.

About 10 people were swept out around 9:45 a.m. in the 1200 block of East 4th Street, according to the Ontario Fire Department. Five people have been rescued and at least three missing-person reports have been filed with the Ontario Police Department. A fourth person might also be missing based on eyewitness accounts.

Josephine Dominguez, 28, was one of the people who were still missing Thursday afternoon, according to the Fire Department. The identities of the two other people haven’t been released.

Officials were still conducting a recovery mission Thursday afternoon and working with the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department’s dive-and-rescue team, as well as other local partners. The search is expected to continue for at least one more day if no one is recovered by the end of Thursday.

A homeless encampment, located by John Galvin Park at 4th Street and North Grove Avenue, had been set up along a wash that filters downstream into a retention basin near Philadelphia Street and Baker Avenue, according to fire officials.

Randy Tomes, 31, who has been unhoused since he was 17, previously stayed at the channel by John Galvin Park, where the people were swept away Tuesday. He said the area was usually dry.

“The city lost a father,” he said about Lopez. “He was a good man.”

Miguel Batease, 26, said his sister-in-law Dominguez wasn’t homeless but had known some of the people who were living in the channel and went to speak with them Tuesday during the storm. He said their family hasn’t heard from her in days.

“She would go to where all the homeless people are to speak the word of God,” he said. “It’s very unfortunate. When Mother Nature comes, there’s no fighting it. It’s very sad.”

The storm, which originated from the Gulf of Alaska, pounded Southern California with powerful winds and drenched the region in more than an inch of rain in most spots, with mountain areas getting a couple of inches of rainfall, and snow in higher elevations, according to the National Weather Service.

Rainfall records were broken at Los Angeles International Airport and in Burbank, Long Beach, Lancaster and Palmdale.