MONTECITO, CA (NBC News) At least 15 people are dead after a day of deadly mudslides near Santa Barbara, California.
Rescue crews continue to comb through the community of Montecito, searching for at least two dozen people still missing.
“We had four feet of mud, raging through, counter high through my house,” one survivor said.
More than 100 rescues were carried out after residents failed to heed evacuation warnings.
The mudslides struck in near an area devastated by wildfires earlier this year, triggered when torrential rains poured down on the ash and loose soil left behind by the fires.
And it’s a recovery that could be made more difficult because many of the residents who lost their homes likely did not have flood insurance, according to a local expert.
“This is most catastrophic thing we have been through,” said Kelly Mahan Herrick, a local realtor and editor at large for the Montecito Journal. “People have lost loved ones or had them go missing. It’s heartbreaking. It’s just shattering.”