HEADING HOME AFTER FLOODING.

Byline: Eugene Tong Staff Writer

Laura McNeeley's mud-caked mobile home lacked water and sewage service Monday, a week after heavy rains triggered floods at the Paradise Ranch Mobile Home Park and ruined nine homes.

Despite the damage and uncertainty when utilities will be restored, the 37-year-old mother who has been staying at a motel with her husband, their five children and ``two dogs, two crabs and a rabbit'' promised to return.

``We're coming back,'' she said while clearing an inch-high layer of mud from her home. ``We want to come back. It's all our kids know. I cannot leave here and take them away from something they know.''

The storms that hammered Southern California buried parts of the 94-unit mobile-home park along Templin Highway under some 3 feet of water. The sheer volume of runoff from the nearby Golden State Freeway also collapsed a large drainage pipe between the park and its hillside water tank, delaying water and sewer repairs.

Paradise Ranch manager and resident Frank Fiala said the state Department of Transportation must repair the culvert before crews can restore utilities, though it was not known how long that will take.

``They're still cutting into the slope,'' he said. ``We've been through earthquakes, we've been though fires. We've never experienced something like this.'' Meanwhile, park management has trucked in 3,200 gallons of water and 10 portable toilets to serve its 230 residents, about 30 percent of whom have not returned to the park, Fiala said. Portable showers are on the way, and the American Red Cross and other aid groups are on hand to assist.

``We came out here to help clear out homes and help in whatever way we can,'' said Robert Jantz, a member of Winton, Calif.-based Christian Disaster Relief. He and other volunteers from the Mennonite-affiliated group helped McNeeley clear the mud.

Still, a notice last week from park operator Pacific Housing Management warned that any resident ``who wishes to remain in their home, despite the current lack of utilities, does so at their own risk.''

McNeeley didn't mind a spot of rustic living, and was determined to remain amid the serene, emerald hills.

``It's like living with a bunch of people at a ranch,'' she said.

Others have rented their own portable toilets, while Catherine Emond and her housemates relied on their recreational vehicle, which has a shower and a 60-gallon water tank. They refill it at local truck stops throughout the week.

``It's a bother with the water, and there's that,'' said Emond, 46, pointing at congested Interstate 5 on a distant hillside. Caltrans has closed lanes for repairs.

Camryn Walling, 14, and Jose Lara, 12, made the best of mud and clay still drying in the noon sun next to a waterlogged Toyota; they molded a pizza.

Eugene Tong, [phone]

eugene.tong(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

6 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color -- ran in SAC edition only) Laura McNeeley wears boots as she walks through her flood-damaged home at the Paradise Ranch Mobile Home Park.

(2 -- 3 -- color -- ran in SAC edition only) Above, Jose Lara, left, 12, and Cameron Walling, 14, compare their mud creations at the mobile-home park. At left, Catherine Emond ponders how long it will be until her home has water service again.

(4 -- ran in SAC edition only) Carlos Concha, 31, takes a moment to clean off his boots outside his residence at the Paradise Ranch Mobile Home Park.

(5 -- 6 -- ran in SAC edition only) Above, traffic crawls along the southbound side of the Golden State Freeway due to lane closures because of damage to the roadway; at left, Bouquet Canyon Road near Vasquez Canyon Road remains unusable due to heavy water damage.

David Crane/Staff Photographer