scar

Doctors later found scarring on her fallopian tubes, and despite operations she has not been able to have children.

"I still have the scar. I kept saying I can't cope with this."

The storm dumped inches of rain on the San Bernardino County mountains and foothills and unleashed a torrent of mud, rocks and trees, particularly in burn scars near Oak Glen and Forest Falls.

Gaby said her scars were bigger than she expected, with one on her leg from a skin graft and an indent on her face from the tumour, but she found them "quite cool now".

Federal disaster officials rapidly deployed thousands of workers to gather up the wreckage across the burn scars.