Which areas are at risk? Latest danger zones MAPPED — California mudslides MAP

They were made to evacuate over fears of mudslides.

According to experts, the mudslide was the result of recent torrential rains.

Tanker trucks sucked muddy water from flooded sections of US 101, the only direct major artery between Los Angeles and the Santa Barbara region and an important route for many people who work in the Santa Barbara region but live down the coast in Ventura County. Law enforcement officials said the area “looked like a World War I battlefield”. “It was just wiped clean”. At least five people are still missing. “You never really know”. “Everybody in the path of that was doomed”.

The dead victims range in age from three to 89.

The cause of Mr Bleckel’s death wasn’t announced, but all other victims died from multiple traumatic injuries due to a flash flood and mudslides. More than 1,200 workers were said to be at the scene. People had packed up, left and come back, and some weren’t so eager to leave again.

Montecito is home to many Hollywood stars, and they were feeling the pain.

Alice Mitchell, 78. Retired schoolteacher.

“We would have evacuated”, she said.

Marveling at the scale of destruction, several firefighters wondered aloud how some areas would ever get back to normal because there’s just so much mud covering the ground, never mind the damage to homes and other buildings.

The Santa Barbara sheriff’s office reports that an 87-year-old victim was located in his Montecito, Calif. home, bringing the total number of casualties from to 18.

It could include everything from urgent, active missing-persons cases being worked by detectives to calls received from acquaintances saying they hadn’t been able to reach someone they believe was in Montecito on Tuesday morning when mudslides swept through town and killed 17 people.

“We’re hoping against hope that we can find somebody that might be alive”, Brown said. A third sister and the girls’ mother are now being treated in the ICU, the family said.

“I was walking down here and all of my neighbors’ homes are gutted”, Winfrey said.

The department said the sediment would only consist of wet or dry dirt or mud without rocks, debris or vegetation, and inspectors would refuse any truckload containing unpermitted materials.

Duffy survived, was treated in the hospital and released with cuts, bruises and a shoulder fracture.

Resident Thomas Tige and his family were forced to the roof of their home after opting not to heed a voluntary evacuation advisory issued for their neighborhood, the AP reported.

Her son-in-law confirmed Wednesday that her body was found near Highway 101 by first responders.

Caroline Montgomery, 22. Mark Montgomery’s daughter.

Sawyer is one of 17 people killed in the mudslides who were named today.

The Mitchells likewise opted to stay.

“We always like to be down here to help”, he said. And I’m trying to weave the auto in, you know, two feet of mud to get back in the driveway and down the street. “We all just love the firefighters”.

When Clay and Kelly Weimer couldn’t reach the Mitchells, they jumped in their vehicle Tuesday and headed south from the Bay Area.

A 14-year-old girl was trapped for hours in mud-soaked rubble on Hot Springs Road and then pulled to safety in a triumphant moment. Maybe the dog was OK. Company spokeswoman Erin Lammers said Riskin was a ballerina with the American Ballet Theater in NY before an injury cut short her dancing career.

“If I’d have known how bad it was, we might have been scared”, Abbe Shaw said.

“Had we not gone over there, I don’t think that kid would have [survived]”, he added.