Emotional residents return to California mudslide area
MONTECITO — Emotional residents are trickling back to the California coastal town that was devastated two weeks ago by mudslides that killed at least 21 people and destroyed more than a hundred homes.
Santa Barbara County officials finally lifted evacuation orders this week for about 1,600 people in the hillside enclave of Montecito, while thousands of others still waited for word that it was safe to return.
When he got back home. Eric Arneson, 72, dug through his refrigerator, throwing away spoiled food and chuckling at how bad it smelled.
His wife, Pamela, took notes on each item to submit to their insurance company.
The couple initially remained in their home after the mudslides but later stayed with friends and in a hotel when their electricity was shut off a few days later.
“We can’t feel sorry for ourselves. Our lives are OK. Our house is OK,” Eric Arneson said.
The couple bought their home in 1972 and had attended church with John McManigal, who died in the mudslides.
“He was the rock of our church,” Pamela Arneson said.
Authorities warned that the returns would be gradual and many people would have to stay out until at least the end of the month.
The town’s narrow streets were clogged with bulldozers and utility trucks as crews remove mud and boulders and rebuild drainage pipes and power lines. Utility workers are also busy restoring water and sewage pipes, gas service and electricity.
Montecito was hit by debris-laden flash floods on Jan. 9 when downpours from a storm hit mountain slopes burned bare by a huge wildfire. Hundreds of homes were damaged. A 17-year-old boy and 2-year-old girl remain missing.
Village Service Station reopened shortly after the mudslides, providing fuel, food and restrooms for emergency responders.
Owner Keith Slocum said Thursday that “it looked like a Third World country” in the days after the disaster but since then crews have made significant progress clearing roads. He’s eager to learn when neighboring businesses will be allowed to reopen.
“We really could use something definitive,” he said. “I don’t know what the benchmarks are for why they open some parts and don’t open others.”