Girl, 2, saved from mudslides
At least 15 dead in disaster along California coast
MONTECITO, CALIF. •Anxious family members awaited word on loved ones Wednesday as rescue crews searched for two dozen people missing after mudslides in Southern California destroyed an estimated 100 houses, swept away cars and left at least 15 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 fire-scarred mountain and slammed into this coastal town in Santa Barbara County early Tuesday.
The drenching storm that triggered the disaster had cleared out, giving way to sunny skies, as searchers worked carefully in a 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, so we’re having to be very careful.”
One two-year-old girl was plucked like a “muddy doll” from the debris of a destroyed neighbourhood and taken to hospital. It was not known what happened to her parents.
Berkeley Johnson told the Santa Barbara Independent about the rescue and how he just managed to escape a three-metre wall of water, concrete blocks and tree branches that plowed down his street in Montecito.
Fifteen people were confirmed dead and two dozen people remained missing, said Amber Anderson, a Santa Barbara County spokeswoman.
The deluge destroyed 100 houses and damaged 300 others, Santa Barbara County authorities said. Eight commercial properties were destroyed and 20 damaged.
Mike Eliason, a spokesman for the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, told the New York Times that officials were working to clear trees, boulders, downed power lines, household items and building material that had been swept onto the roads.
“You have huge boulders, 55-gallon drum size or bigger, that tumbled down the hillside and blocked the road,” he said. “Trees snapped, power lines snapped.”
Eliason said that the mud had been waist deep Tuesday and that “once you get in, you can’t get out.”
“It is just a sticky mess that needs to be cleared,” he told the Times. “A little bit of everything you could imagine, including a kitchen sink. Literally, a kitchen sink was found.”