31 years after father and son died in Sierra Madre flood, family urges vigilance in evacuation zones

SIERRA MADRE, Calif. (KABC) -- Thirty-one years ago this week, intense rains brought devastation to one Sierra Madre family, when Jon Henderson and his 9-year-old son Matt Henderson were both killed in a catastrophic flash flood.

In an interview with ABC7, the victims' family pointing out the striking similarities to the weather conditions Southern California is experiencing now and the conditions that turned deadly three decades ago.

"Matt was such a joy and John was a riot," said Judy Henderson, whose grandson and son died in a massive debris flow.

A somber anniversary is marked annually by the Henderson family.

"Normally it's just a hard day, but today in particular it's the rain that gets us," said Laura Kuttruff, Jon Henderson's sister.

In 1994, the father and son were hiking Bailey Canyon, as they'd done many times before. There had been a wildfire there months earlier, one that burned nearly 200 homes in Altadena and Sierra Madre.

On March 6 of that year, after rain fell deep in the mountains, a wall of mud rumbled down.

"The debris flow was coming at approximately 55 miles an hour and it was about 25 feet high," Kuttruff said. "There is no way you can outrun that."

Authorities at the time called it a freak accident.

"There's nothing that they did wrong," a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department spokesperson said in the aftermath of the incident.

It took days to find their bodies, and their family watched and waited for every second. This week, as crews cleared the debris basins amid downpours, the Hendersons were transported back 31 years.

"Today, when I hear the rain, I hear Bailey Canyon and I I hear the trucks are moving trying to empty the debris basin, my mind goes back to sitting on the edge, watching those trucks -- scoop by scoop -- take out and empty that debris basin," Judy Henderson said.