California mud slide toll rises

Desperate search for missing people after California rains

Rescue crews searched ruins for more than a dozen people missing after mudslides in southern California destroyed 100 houses and left 17 people dead.

ANXIOUS family members awaited word on loved ones yesterday as rescue crews searched grimy debris and ruins for more than a dozen people missing after mudslides in Southern California destroyed an estimated 100 houses, swept cars to the beach and left at least 17 victims dead.

“It’s just waiting and not knowing, and the more I haven’t heard from them ... we have to find them,” said Kelly Weimer, whose elderly parents’ home was wrecked by the torrent of mud, trees and boulders that flowed down a firescarred mountain and slammed into the coastal town of Montecito in Santa Barbara County on Tuesday.

The drenching storm, that triggered the disaster gave way to sunny skies, as hundreds of searchers carefully combed a messy landscape strewn with hazards.

“We’ve gotten multiple reports of rescuers falling through manholes that were covered with mud, swimming pools that were covered up with mud,” said Anthony Buzzerio, a Los Angeles County fire battalion chief. “The mud is acting like a candy shell on ice cream. It’s crusty on top but soft underneath.”

Mr Buzzerio led a team of 14 firefighters and six dogs in deep debris. They used longhandled tools to search the muck in the painstaking task. Teams rescued three people yesterday but they also discovered two more bodies, raising the death count to 17.

Seventeen people were reported missing.

A dozen people were hospitalised at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital and four were in critical condition.

“Most injuries we saw were related to fast-moving debris,” Doctor Brett Wilson said. “You can’t even fathom what these poor patients went through to finally make their way to the emergency department.”

The deluge destroyed 100 houses and damaged 300 others, Santa Barbara County authorities said.