Boyfriend Survived by Grabbing Onto Tree (Chino/Corona, CA)

A Southern California woman was killed Saturday, by the first big storm to hit the region this weekend.

25-year-old Lindsey Marie Erickson of Corona died when her pickup truck was swept into a flood channel in Chino, in San Bernardino County (photo on KNX main page and above shows the wrecked truck).

Erickson and her boyfriend unwittingly drove onto a flooded road because someone had removed a barricade. Police say she called 911 around 1 a.m. on Saturday, to report that their truck was sinking.

The call was then cut off, but authorities had time to triangulate the couple's position using the phone's GPS chip.

Searchers finally got close enough to hear Erickson's boyfriend, 36-year-old Rene Valencia of Corona, calling for help. And they found him about 4:25 a.m.,clinging to a tree. He was treated for cuts, bruises and hypothermia and is expected to recover.

But Erickson was later found dead, about 1-1/2 miles further downstream.

Valencia told police Erickson had made a wrong turn, and then ended up in the creek where water levels had risen to eight feet because of the heavy rains.

Authorities are looking at forensic evidence, especially fingerprints, to try to identify whoever removed an orange barricade that had been set up to block the road because of flooding from the weekend downpour.