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Southern California Mudslides: Death Toll Rises to 15, With Dozens More Missing A Rush to Find Survivors Amid the Mud of Southern California Enclave
(about 5 hours later)
Rescue crews waded through thick mud in Southern California on Wednesday to extricate stranded residents and clear roads made impassable by mudslides that have left at least 15 people dead and destroyed around 100 homes. SAN FRANCISCO — Rescue workers scoured mud-swollen riverbeds in the wealthy Southern California enclave of Montecito on Wednesday, clutching to the hope that they might find some of the more than a dozen people missing after mudslides swept away about 100 houses.
Two dozen people were missing and 28 people were injured after the mudslides struck on Tuesday in an area northwest of Los Angeles that was recently scorched in the state’s largest wildfire on record. The authorities were working to reach 300 people stuck in their homes Wednesday and declared a “public safety exclusion zone,” barring all but emergency crews from the area. At least 17 people were killed in mud flows so powerful that some one-story ranch homes in the area northwest of Los Angeles were covered up to their gutters. The devastation, sudden and violent, struck early Tuesday after a winter storm drenched and destabilized hillsides stripped bare last month by the largest wildfire in California history.
Amber Anderson, a spokeswoman for the joint recovery effort, which involves helicopters, firefighters and emergency workers from several counties, said the affected area was nearly 20,000 acres. Bill Brown, the Santa Barbara County sheriff, said late Wednesday that the authorities were still working to identify the victims.
Among those who were reported missing on Tuesday were the father of a boy who was swept hundreds of yards downstream, and the father of a sailor stationed in Hawaii. The authorities said 28 people were injured, some critically. At least 300 houses were damaged.
One of the dead was identified as Roy Rohter, the founder of a Ventura school, who was killed by a mudslide that poured through his home. His wife was rescued and was in stable condition, the school said. “We are still in the hopeful, optimistic mode that we can find survivors,” said Mike Eliason, a spokesman for the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, which has rescued six people since the hillsides gave way.
Five highways remained closed on Wednesday, including the 101, a main north-south artery, said Tim Weisberg, a spokesman for the California Department of Transportation. Canine units worked their way along the Montecito and San Ysidro Creeks, where a large number of houses were swept away. It was the area near the creeks that was the most treacherous, Mr. Eliason said, as creeks swelled with the sudden torrents of water mixed with ash from the fires, rocks and dirt.
“Some single-story homes were obliterated, just wiped off the foundation,” he said. “Others had holes blown through from boulders.”
The mud also hid some dangers from rescue workers.
“We’ve gotten multiple reports of rescuers falling through manholes that were covered with mud, swimming pools that were covered up with mud,” Anthony Buzzerio, a Los Angeles County fire battalion chief, told The Associated Press. “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.”
Five highways remained closed on Wednesday, including rural, two-lane roads, said Tim Weisberg, a spokesman for the California Department of Transportation. The main north-south roadway, the 101 Freeway, will be closed until at least Monday.
“There are some portions that look like a riverbed,” Mr. Weisberg said of the 101. “It’s a mixture of dirt, debris, boulders, rocks. In some areas it can be six inches or a foot deep.”“There are some portions that look like a riverbed,” Mr. Weisberg said of the 101. “It’s a mixture of dirt, debris, boulders, rocks. In some areas it can be six inches or a foot deep.”
With blue skies overhead Wednesday, officials were working to clear trees, boulders, downed power lines, household items and building material that had been swept onto the roads, said Mike Eliason, a spokesman for the Santa Barbara County Fire Department. Helicopters would continue to attempt rescues for those still holed up in their homes and bulldozers and loaders would be used to clear a path, he said. Under blue skies Wednesday, rescue workers made progress, clearing roads that had trapped residents in the area around Romero Canyon, northeast of Montecito. But the longer-term consequences were also becoming evident, including damage to the area’s water system, which will probably take months to repair, officials said. The local water municipality instructed those residents still receiving tap water to boil it before using it for cooking or drinking.
“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.” Using bulldozers and other heavy equipment, workers cleared trees, boulders, downed power lines, household items and building material that had been swept onto the roads.
And then there was the mud, congealing on top of it all. Mr. Eliason said that he had been waist deep in mud on Tuesday and that “once you get in, you can’t get out.” “A little bit of everything you could imagine, including a kitchen sink,” Mr. Eliason said. “Literally a kitchen sink was found.”
“It is just a sticky mess that needs to be cleared,” he said. “A little bit of everything you could imagine, including a kitchen sink. Literally a kitchen sink was found.” Among the dead was Roy Rohter, 84, said Michael Van Hecke, a friend and the headmaster of St. Augustine Academy, a classical Catholic school Mr. Rohter founded in nearby Ventura. Mr. Van Hecke said he learned of his friend’s death from Mr. Rohter’s daughter.
The wreckage of the downpour, coming so soon after the wildfires, was not a coincidence but a direct result of the charred lands, left vulnerable to quickly forming mudslides. “He was a real scrapper, an entrepreneur,” Mr. Van Hecke said. “He bootstrapped himself all the way up to a very successful life.”
In an interview with CBS on Wednesday, Sheriff Bill Brown of Santa Barbara County said the authorities were still working to identify those who could be trapped and isolated in areas that teams have not been able to reach in Montecito and other nearby areas. He said that it was not yet known how many were still trapped. The mudslide also injured Mr. Rohter’s wife, Theresa, at their home in Montecito.
“I think most people are really shocked at the extent of the damage and how big the impact was to the area,” he said. “Although we knew that this was coming you couldn’t help but be amazed at the intensity of the storm.” Amber Anderson, a spokeswoman for the joint recovery effort, which involves 14 helicopters and nearly 500 personnel — including firefighters and emergency workers from several counties — said the affected area was nearly 20,000 acres.
On Tuesday, as the mud rushed into lower-lying neighborhoods in Montecito, a wealthy hillside community where many celebrities have homes, the power went out and gas lines were severed, said Thomas Tighe, a resident. Officials said Tuesday night that it could be several days before gas service would be restored. They also said power failures were affecting more than 6,000 homes and businesses in the area, adding that many parts of Montecito were without drinkable water. Among those who were reported missing on Tuesday were the father of a boy who was swept hundreds of yards downstream, and the father of a sailor stationed in Hawaii.
Sometime after 2 a.m. Mr. Tighe heard a loud rumbling, which he took to be boulders crashing down the hills. In the dark of the night, he could make out his cars floating away. Wearing a wet suit and booties, he used an ax to break down the fences around his house, which had been holding back the mud. Montecito is home to mansions owned by celebrities like Oprah Winfrey and Ellen DeGeneres, but most of the damage occurred to more modest homes in the flatlands.
By dawn the devastation — and human toll — became clearer. Just 50 feet from Mr. Tighe’s home, firefighters found a body, wedged up against a neighbor’s car. Down the street, a couple and their three children, including an infant, sought safety on their roof. The wreckage of the downpour, coming so soon after the wildfires, was not a coincidence but a direct result of the charred lands, left vulnerable to quickly forming mudslides. The wildfires, known as the Thomas Fire, burned over 280,000 acres last month spanning Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties, and became California’s largest on record. The area has not received significant rain since last spring.
“The neighborhood got pummeled,” Mr. Tighe said. “We were lucky in the scope of things.” “I think most people are really shocked at the extent of the damage and how big the impact was to the area,” Sheriff Bill Brown of Santa Barbara County said in a television interview. “Although we knew that this was coming you couldn’t help but be amazed at the intensity of the storm.”
Anticipating the floods, Santa Barbara County officials issued a mandatory evacuation order on Sunday evening for roughly 7,000 residents, but most chose to stay in their homes.
“We went door to door,” said Gina DePinto, the communications manager for Santa Barbara County. “But many refused to leave.”
Mr. Eliason, the fire department spokesman, said he worked with a team of firefighters that rescued eight people, including the 14-year-old girl who was in a house that was forced off its foundation and crashed into a stand of trees. It took two hours for firefighters to cut her out of the debris.
Jonathan W. Godt, who coordinates the landslide hazards program at the United States Geological Survey, said the area of the Thomas Fire was prone to debris flows for two reasons: the terrain and the nature of the fire.
“That’s some really rugged topography,” Dr. Godt said, with steep slopes and elevation differences.
The fire, in a mostly chaparral landscape, also burned exceptionally hot, Dr. Godt said. A fire changes the physical properties of the soil, making it less absorbent. “It becomes much more erodible,” he said.
As rainwater runs off and flows downhill, it picks up soil, trees, boulders and other debris and eventually collects in a stream channel. The mix of water and debris, often with a consistency close to wet concrete, can then continue traveling at high speed down the streambed.
“You bring that down at 20 miles per hour and it can do a lot of damage,” Dr. Godt said.