The Santa Barbara County coroner’s office says the victims range in age from 3 to 89 and all are residents of Montecito. They’d painted the phrase “Case de Contenta” on the side – “House of Contentment”, in Alice Mitchell’s words, according to Megan Alice Mitchell, the couple’s granddaughter. “The scariest thing was the sound”, Farrell told ABC News.
Advertisement
Sheriff Bill Brown cautioned Thursday that many or most of those unaccounted for may simply have been unreachable to the family and friends who reported them missing.
During the wildfires last month, Farell looked over the house while his parents evacuated.
She’s still holding out hope that her grandparents are alive somewhere. So there was a really emotional moment, ‘ he said. “Is amusing”, she corrected.
Brown did say that of the 17 people he announced were missing Wednesday, some were identified as among the dead and were crossed off the list.
Montecito is best known as a getaway for the rich and famous – the median home price among current listings is more than 4 million dollars (£2.9m) – although there are also working families living in modest houses and apartments.
He said the zone, which includes areas formerly under voluntary evacuation advisories, would be in effect for one week but that residents should plan for two.
Some areas are without power, water or gas and the search for the missing continues.
Flooding and debris flow prompted the California Highway Patrol to shut down the northbound 101 Freeway at Route 126 in Ventura and at Seacliff, and the southbound 101 Freeway just south of Santa Barbara at Milpas Street to Padaro Lane near Summerland.
Several homes were swept away before dawn Tuesday when mud and debris roared into neighborhoods in Montecito from hillsides stripped of vegetation during a recent wildfire. Car-size boulders littered streets. One piece of video from Tuesday shows a vehicle being carried along a curvy, downward-sloping street, engulfed by mud on all sides.
Emergency workers search areas damaged from storms in Montecito, Calif., Jan. 11, 2018.
But there were also glimmers of optimism amid the fury of the flood. A 14-year-old girl was rescued on Wednesday. “She was the life of the party, always, and loved us all so fiercely”. I’m standing right now still in a lot of mud but not as much as yesterday.
Crews in tanker trucks worked to remove the muddy water from the flooded sections of US 101, a highway connecting Los Angeles to the Santa Barbara region. When the flooding receded, they chose to flee.
Advertisement
“I was walking down here and all of my neighbors’ homes are gutted. Sunday night, Portia and I got a call that we’re under mandatory evacuation again with most of the community of Montecito”, she said during her show.
