LOS ANGELES - Authorities in southern California raised the death toll from mudslides that battered the region to 19 on Saturday as rescue workers continued the search for victims.
Five people are still missing after the mudslides, according to an update on the County of Santa Barbara's website, which warned people to "anticipate the numbers of missing persons to fluctuate significantly."
"Crews continue to search buildings and debris flows for trapped victims. The unstable environment remains a critical threat to civilians and responders," it said.
"The large amounts of mud and debris are making access and progress challenging."
Heavy rain on Tuesday, which followed 10 months of drought, sent sticky mud and debris flowing down the hills into Montecito.
In addition to the dead and injured, 65 homes have been destroyed while another 462 sustained damage.
Terrifying wildfires in the area forced evacuations in December, and the mudslides struck just two weeks after people returned.
The fires burned most vegetation, leaving perfect conditions for the latest disaster to unfold.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
SANTA BARBARA - Southern California rescue workers using dogs and scanners searched for eight people feared lost in the wreckage of this week's deadly mudslides, which struck along the state's picturesque coastal communities, according to officials.
Seventeen people were confirmed dead after a wall of mud roared down hillsides two days earlier in the scenic area between the Pacific Ocean and the Los Padres National Forest, according to Santa Barbara County authorities. The mudslides destroyed about 100 homes and injured 28 people.
"We have crews out there," said Amber Anderson, a spokeswoman for the Santa Barbara County Fire Department. "They've been working 24 hours a day."
About 500 rescuers using search dogs, military helicopters, and thermal imaging equipment were on the scene. On Wednesday, dogs helped crews rescue 10 stranded residents, Anderson said. Rescues were partly reflected in the tally of missing, which was revised to eight from 17 on Thursday morning.
Search and rescue efforts have been slow as crews have to navigate through waist-deep mud, fallen trees, boulders and other debris. Teams have completed initial searches of the entire debris field and are about a quarter of the way through a more intensive secondary search of the zone, Anderson said.
"Another tough day in Santa Barbara County as Search and Rescue, Fire and Law Enforcement personnel from across our county and our neighboring counties searched for survivors and evacuated people," the sheriff's office said on its Twitter feed late Wednesday night.
The mudslides, triggered by heavy rains early on Tuesday, roared into valleys denuded by historic wildfires that struck the area last month.
In addition to destroying 100 homes, the debris flow from the mudslides has damaged hundreds of other structures, officials said.
Among the damaged properties were historic hotels and the homes of celebrities, including media mogul and actress Oprah Winfrey and talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres, who both live in the upscale hillside community of Montecito.
DeGeneres said on her talk show on Thursday that the picturesque town of 9,000 is a "tight-knit" community.
"It's not just a wealthy community, it's filled with a lot of different types of people from all backgrounds," she said. "And there are families missing, there are people who are missing family members ... it's catastrophic."
Last month's spate of wildfires, including the largest in California history, not only burned away grass and shrubs that held soil in place, but also baked a waxy layer into the earth that prevents water from sinking deeply into the ground.
"First we got burned out at our ranch that caught on fire and now we're flooding, so the last month has been pretty bad," Charles Stoops said as he stood in front of his house, which was surrounded in mud 3 feet (nearly a meter) deep.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
LOS ANGELES - Mudslides unleashed by a ferocious storm demolished homes in southern California, authorities said Tuesday. Eight people were reported killed.
Santa Barbara County Fire Department (SBCFD) said the bodies were discovered in mud and debris during rescue operations in Montecito, northwest of Los Angeles, according to various reports.
The fire and sheriff's departments weren't immediately available to confirm the deaths, but a further 25 people were reported injured.
The SBCFD said on its Twitter feed it was using dogs to look for victims where multiple homes once stood in Montecito following heavy rain.
The department posted pictures of neighborhoods submerged in mud and roads rendered impassable by fallen trees.
"Firefighters successfully rescued a 14-yr-old girl after she was trapped for hours inside a destroyed home in Montecito," it added.
Roads were clogged throughout the region with mud flows shutting down more than 30 miles (50 kilometers) of the 101 Freeway and knocking a number of homes from their foundations.
Pounding rain weakened south-facing slopes above Montecito and flooded a creek, sending mud and huge rocks rolling into housing areas.
Emergency responders received numerous unconfirmed missing-person reports, the fire department told the Los Angeles Times.
The highest rainfall total was recorded at five inches (13 centimeters) in Ventura County, according to the National Weather Service Los Angeles.
Much of the affected area is land scorched by the massive Thomas fire last month, where there is no vegetation to soak up the excess water.
About 275 traffic crashes were logged in the California Highway Patrol's jurisdiction in Los Angeles County during the morning commute -- compared with just 30 reported collisions during the same period on Tuesday last week.
A evacuation order was issued in a section of the Los Angeles suburb of Burbank, which was hit by a mudslide that pulled cars out of driveways and carried them downstream.
The slide also caused a "significant" gas leak, and repair efforts left homes on the street with no gas, electricity or water.
"There were many homes, about 40 to 45 homes, affected by it, a couple homes damaged," Burbank Fire Department Battalion Chief John Owings told local TV news channel KCAL9.
"We performed two physical rescues at approximately 7 o'clock this morning."
At Los Angeles International Airport, flooding forced the closure of the customs area in Terminal 2.
Forecasters warned that while the rain had appeared to subside by late morning, more showers and isolated thunderstorms were expected through the evening, with periods of very heavy rain.
The storm came after a 10-month dry spell in the area following torrential rains in January and February of last year. In 2017, downtown Los Angeles experienced its driest March 1 through December 31 since 1878, with only 0.69 of an inch of rainfall, according to the National Weather Service.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
