MERCED, Calif. — In recent weeks, Merced neighbors Mariya Nelson and Beth Lee took on more than just rebuilding their storm-battered homes.
After a series of break-ins, they're now the de facto neighborhood watch for a well-to-do strip of homes that runs along a road abutting Bear Creek, which has flooded multiple times in recent weeks during California's series of storms.
They were forced from their homes in early January when more than 3 feet of water displaced them.
