Heavy rains in SoCal cause mudslides, damage and freeway closures

Support for LAist comes from

Podcasts AirTalk

This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.

This archival content was originally written for and published on KPCC.org. Keep in mind that links and images may no longer work — and references may be outdated.

Jan 11, 2018

Listen • 11:50

Heavy rains in SoCal cause mudslides, damage and freeway closures

Hundreds of rescue workers are searching for bodies buried by debris in the Santa Barbara county’s Montecito.

A home is surrounded by mud and debris caused by a massive mudflow in Montecito, California, January 10, 2018.
Search and rescue efforts intensified January 10 for hundreds of Montecito residents feared trapped in their homes after deadly walls of mud and debris roared down California hillsides stripped of vegetation by recent, ferocious wildfires. / AFP PHOTO / Robyn Beck (Photo credit should read ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images)

Hundreds of rescue workers are searching for bodies buried by debris in the Santa Barbara county’s Montecito.

Hundreds of rescue workers are searching for bodies buried by debris in the Santa Barbara County’s Montecito.

Eight people are missing. Seventeen confirmed dead. Parts of the town are covered in mud, boulders, tree limbs, and splintered lumber. Fifty-nine residences were destroyed, with hundreds damaged. AirTalk has this latest update.