Mudslide survivors find hope in recovered belongings

LOS ANGELES — When a torrent of mud crashed through Mari Mitchel’s bedroom in Southern California three months ago, it carried away everything from massive pieces of antique family furniture to a tiny pouch that held her wedding and engagement rings and a beloved pendant.

As the days turned into weeks and the weeks into months, Mitchel had nearly lost all hope she would ever see her most treasured jewelry again.

But on April 3, the 65-year-old Mitchel got what she calls her “tiny miracle.” The pouch filled with jewelry was plucked from a 6-foot pile of mud down the street from her house.

“My knees were shaking, and I was oh-my-goshing and jumping up and down,” Mitchel said. “I cried tears of joy, disbelief and thorough happiness.”

Months after the Jan. 9 mudslides killed at least 21 people and nearly wiped the small community of Montecito off the map, those who survived are still looking for and finding their belongings in the deep and hardened sludge. They lost loved ones, neighbors and houses in the catastrophe, which still looks like it happened yesterday. Two children remain missing.

Through the shock and the misery, a Facebook page called Montecito Disaster Lost & Found has become a ray of hope for many, a tiny bit of good amid a whole lot of heartache. Started a couple of days after the tragedy, the page has connected hundreds of lost items with their owners — everything from old family photos and wedding veils to a 400-pound hippo statue.