Firefighters rescue man from flood-control channel in Buena Park during rainstorm

A man was pulled out of a flood-control channel early Monday during a rainstorm in Buena Park, fire officials said.

It was just about 6:45 a.m. when residents around the 4600 block of Minorca Way heard someone yelling from a storm-drain area, said Capt. Thanh Nguyen of the Orange County Fire Authority.

When firefighters arrived to where the residents had directed them, they didn’t see anyone in need of help, Nguyen said. But fire units that were downstream found the man in the channel about a half-mile away, at La Mirada Boulevard.

The man had managed to get out of the water – which was 2 to 3 feet high – but he was still in the storm-drain area.

“Firefighters lowered a ladder to him, and he was able to climb out,” Nguyen said.

He declined medical treatment from paramedics. It was unclear why the man was in the flood-control area.

Nguyen encouraged people to steer clear of such areas, which fire officials describe as extremely dangerous during rainstorms.

“That water moves pretty fast,” he said.