Montecito mudslide: Firefighters rescue girl, 14, from collapsed building after mudslides kill 13 in California

Eleanor Rose10 January 2018

Dramatic pictures show the destruction wreaked by mudslides that swept through southern California neighbourhoods killing at least 13.

Cars and lorries were seen floating on rivers of thick mud that coursed through residential areas in Montecito, Santa Barbara County, sending thousands fleeing from their homes.

Emergency workers using search dogs lifted out residents trapped in collapsed buildings, including a 14-year-old girl.

The girl, whose name was not immediately available, emerged caked in mud from the top of her head to her feet and hands..

AP

Firefighters dressed in high-vis and orange jumpsuits and hard-hats hauled her from the debris of the house.

Other residents were also lifted from destroyed homes either by rescue workers or with the help of helicopters.

Heavy downpours struck Southern California before dawn on Tuesday after thousands of residents living along the Pacific coast north of Los Angeles were ordered to evacuate or urged to do so voluntarily.

But only 10 to 15 percent complied with mandatory orders, said Amber Anderson, a spokeswoman for the Santa Barbara County Fire Department.

Devastation: Debris clogged roadways as vehicles became trapped by sludge
EPA

The well-to-do communities of Montecito and Carpenteria, just outside the city of Santa Barbara, were hardest hit.

The mudslides toppled trees, demolished cars and covered quiet residential neighbourhoods with a waist-high layer of sludge, blocking Highway 101, a major north-south route along the coast.

Widespread: Two neighbourhoods, Montecito and Carpenteria, were particularly hard hit
Reuters

"The best way I can describe it is, it looked like a World War One battlefield," Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said at a news conference.

The death toll could rise, with rescue workers still picking through dozens of damaged and demolished homes in the search for survivors, Brown said.

'This is not a river': Roads were flooded with mud 
Reuters

TV personality Ellen DeGeneres, who is among a coterie of celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey and Rob Lowe who own homes in Montecito, posted a photo on Twitter of a road choked with mud and brown water.

"This is not a river," DeGeneres wrote on Twitter. "This is the 101 freeway in my neighborhood right now. Montecito needs your love and support."

The same stretch of California's scenic coastline was ravaged last month by a series of intense wildfires, the largest in California history.

Residents are evacuated through the mud
Reuters

They left the area vulnerable to mudslides by burning away grass and shrubs that hold the soil in place and also baked a waxy layer into the earth that prevents water from sinking deeply into the ground.

Some areas of Santa Barbara County early on Tuesday were pounded with more than a half-inch of rain in five minutes, a rate that far exceeds the normal flash flood threshold, officials said.

Roads and railways were blocked by the mudslide
Reuters

Many local residents had to flee their homes due to the fires last month and again this week because of the rains.

"Where are the frogs and locusts? We're waiting for them," Dominic Shiach, a restaurateur from Montecito who evacuated due to last month's fire, told Reuters.

Montecito Mudslides in California - In pictures

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