Officials confirmed the remains belong to 53-year-old Paul Lupien. It is unclear whether Lupien may have been the subject of a Dec. 24 search and rescue effort that was eventually called off.
The normally dry Santa Ana Riverbed flooded Tuesday, as it usually does when heavy precipitation starts hitting the area, and nine people needed to be rescued.
An Orange County nonprofit recently broke ground on a project to transform a motel into a permanent supportive housing facility, with about half of the units set aside for the mentally ill.