The creek had turned into a churning, muddy river overnight, ripping through his Avenida De La Vereda neighborhood.

His front door already barricaded with sandbags, there was only one way out -- through the living room window. So Metlen, his wife and two children went out the window and into the waiting bucket of Marlan Clark's backhoe. Clark drove the family to safety at the end of the street.

"He's a real hero to the neighborhood," Metlen said. "Had he not shown up to get us, we'd be on the roof."

Clark, along with his wife, Crystal, own M&C Clark Backhoe and Dumptruck Services.

They spent Sunday night and Monday morning driving through the neighborhood, rescuing people from their homes and clearing a path through the muddy streets for rescue crews.

Unfortunately for the Clarks, they weren't able to save their own home. His mother, Maureen, said the couple lost everything when the creek went through their home.

"Their home was hit hard," she said. "They lost all their belongings. He rescued the baby pictures, that's all."

Neighbors said more than 15 homes were damaged by the flooding.

The small neighborhood on the east end of town was torn apart by Thacher Creek, which separated neighbors as it roared through in two separate areas. Mud and water covered the streets, and yards were knee deep in mud.

Valerie Archer said the water was hip deep in the street when she got up Monday. Her family spent the day sandbagging.

Her father, Brian Archer, said neighborhood residents came together as they worked to protect their homes.

Several in the neighborhood worked to rescue an elderly woman from her home. The woman, reportedly in her 90s, had fallen and was unable to get up. Marlan Clark used his backhoe to clear out some of the mud so Harry Waycasy could ferry paramedics across the creek to the woman's home in his truck. They wrapped her in blankets and got her out of the house and into the truck, where she was driven across the water to a waiting ambulance.

Metlen said the neighborhood has flooded several times before. He said the creek needs to be widened and a flood control wall built.

"It's insane," he said.

He said he believes people will have to be killed by floods before the county does anything to fix it.

"No one has died yet."