Caltrans Electrician II

Department of Transportation

2/23/2023

Special Service Award (Silver)

On February 23, 2023, at approximately 12:30 a.m., Caltrans Electrician II DavidRay Sumaya and the rest of the Caltrans District 7 Commerce Night Electrical Crew responded to a report of flooding in the northbound travel lanes where the Interstate 5 freeway passes under Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Sheldon Street. The low-lying stretch in Los Angeles’ Sun Valley relies on pumps to clear stormwater, but on this night, power was out due to the large storm. “It was raining so hard that trees were falling,” Crew Chief Saul Rodriguez recalled. “It was chaos.” Reports would later call the storm one of the strongest to hit Southern California in recent memory. Soon, a half dozen cars stalled in the deepening waters. One compact vehicle became submerged, with its headlamps strangely illuminating the muddy waters in the darkness. Mr. Sumaya and coworker Mr. Oscar Mora saw two frightened travelers trapped inside the vehicle. “They were panicking! The water was coming up so fast,” Chief Rodriguez said. Without hesitation, Mr. Sumaya strode into the waist-deep water and heroically carried a young woman out of the vehicle and 50 feet to the side of the freeway. He then went back in and rescued the other female occupant from the vehicle. Mr. Mora aided by keeping watch, ready to assist. The two women were soon safe on an overpass with other vehicle motorists, some of whom were rescued by California Highway Patrol officers, who were also on the scene. With the rest of the Commerce Night Electrical Crew, Mr. Sumaya worked past the end of his 5:30 a.m. shift to configure the two diesel-powered pumps needed to clear the floodwaters. The State of California takes great pride in presenting the Silver Medal of Valor to California Department of Transportation, Caltrans Electrician II DavidRay Sumaya for his heroic service extending above and beyond the normal call of duty.