A pair of children died Thursday after a hillside near a drainage culvert for California’s Shasta Dam collapsed. The area was drenched by heavy rain.
The avalanche happened sometime before 9 a.m., when the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office was called to the scene. Debris had broken off, with the rocks and kids falling down the hillside.
Water releases from the Shasta Dam were reduced temporarily so responders could find the bodies of the two victims in the river below the hillside, the sheriff’s office explained in a Facebook post.
Both children were pronounced dead at the scene from injuries incurred during the collapse. Law enforcement didn’t provide names, gender or other identifying information.
“All agencies involved extend their deepest condolences to the families,” the sheriff’s office wrote on Facebook.
Over four inches of rain fell near Shasta on Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service.