Thai man’s body found; death toll now at 20
Churchgoers in area of Calif. slide go elsewhere
MONTECITO, Calif. — Parishioners prayed Sunday for those killed and for families still searching for missing relatives in a Southern California community ravaged by mudslides, and authorities announced that another body had been found, increasing the death toll to 20.
The body of 30-year-old Pinit Sutthithepa was discovered Saturday afternoon. His 2-year-old daughter, Lydia, remained missing. His 6-yearold son, Peerawat, nicknamed Pasta, and his 79-year-old father-in-law, Richard Loring Taylor, also were killed in the mudslides.
The list of those still missing in the mudslides has shrunk to four.
Because most churches in Montecito are in an evacuation area, many worshippers attended services in nearby towns. At a church in Santa Barbara, they carried flowers, lit candles and prayed for the families who have lost loved ones. The victims were their friends and neighbors, they said.
“Our whole community is devastated,” Hannah Miller said at Trinity Episcopal Church. “There isn’t anyone who doesn’t know someone who has been affected by this disaster. It is truly awful. We can just pray they find those poor missing people.”
In the disaster area, firefighters went door to door to check the structural stability of the houses and scoured what’s left of toppled homes and mangled cars as they searched for the missing.
The storm sent flash floods cascading through mountain slopes that were burned bare by a huge wildfire in December.
Crews have made it a priority to clear out debris basins and creek canals before another rainstorm. Long-range forecasts gave the crews about a week before the next chance of rain — and potential new mudslides — although the precipitation was expected to be disorganized and light. Another system was possible two days later.
The mudslides on Jan. 9 ravaged the tony community, destroying at least 65 homes and damaging more than 460 others, officials said. They also forced the indefinite shutdown of U.S. 101, the only major freeway between Santa Barbara and points east.
The rest of the community’s infrastructure also was damaged.
Sutthithepa, whose body was discovered Saturday, immigrated from Thailand, leaving behind his wife and two children but sending them money for years until he could bring them to the United States, a friend, Poy Sayavongs, told the Lee Central Coast News.
“They finally were able to make it to the States in the summer of 2016,” Sayavongs said. “It’s cruel. They only had a short time together before this tragedy struck.”
A month earlier, the family had evacuated to a Red Cross shelter for a night as a devastating wildfire that went on to blacken nearby mountains threatened their home and many others.
More than 2,000 searchers and recovery workers have remained in the community, carrying out backbreaking work in the summerlike weather that has made the stretch of Santa Barbara County coast about 90 miles northwest of Los Angeles a haven for the wealthy, celebrities and tourists.
Much of the community of about 9,000 residents remained under mandatory evacuation orders, even unscathed areas, as crews removed debris and worked to restore water, sanitation, power and gas.