Reporting from MONTECITO, Calif. — Marc Phillips slogged up and down the streets of Montecito Tuesday in his mud-caked jeans, marveling at the devastation.
Phillips pointed at areas on Parra Grande Road, where homes used to be.
“It looks like there was never a house there, but it was,” he said.
It was that kind of day in one neighborhood in this upscale Santa Barbara County coastal city, where waves of mud destroyed homes and killed several people.
That some neighborhoods had been threatened by the Thomas fire just weeks earlier made it hard for some people to process the twin disasters.
Advertisement
Bridget Bottoms’ footsteps splashed through the mud as she and other residents ran to move out of a bulldozer’s way.
“Get over!” the driver yelled as he tried making his way down the muddy street.
Bottoms, shivering in her white hoodie, stood on a door that flew off from a nearby house.
“There’s never been anything like this,” Bottoms said.
Mud from a swollen creek slammed into homes in the 300 block of Hot Springs Road and nearby streets.
The area was not directly in the Thomas fire burn zone, officials said. During the fires, the location was under voluntary evacuation because it was far south of the burn area, so officials issued only voluntary evacuation orders there Monday night as the storm approached.
Advertisement
One person was found under a 101 Freeway overpass after a home a half-mile north was hit by floods and the person was carried away, said Mike Eliason, Santa Barbara County Fire Department spokesman. The person’s condition was unknown.
Crews rescued six people and a dog after four houses were destroyed. The mud lifted one residence off its foundation and carried it into trees, where it collapsed, Eliason said.
Areas that burn in wildfires can face severe flood risks when it rains.
Advertisement
Firefighters used the “jaws of life” to cut their way into the home, where a firefighter heard muffled cries for help, Eliason said. A rescue dog pinpointed the location of a 14-year-old girl, and two hours later the mud-covered teen was pulled free. Eliason said he did not know where her parents were.
It was about 3:30 a.m. when Tony Miller, a Realtor and Montecito resident, heard the heavy rainfall.
“About the same time, I look up into the sky and there was this bright red light,” he said. That light, he learned later, was from a gas line that had erupted.
Miller thought another massive fire had broken out, but he wasn’t sure. He went outside, walked up a hill and began recording video. He later posted it on his Twitter account.
1/48
Contractors for the city of Ventura work to clear a huge tree toppled by wind on South Chestnut street between Main and Santa Clara Streets in downtown Ventura on Tuesday morning.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
2/48
A car was stuck in a mudslide early Tuesday morning on Topanga Canyon Blvd., in Topanga.
(Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times)
3/48
Mario Romero looks at mud debris covering Maricopa Highway 33 North of Ojai that has several closures due to mud and debris slides covering the roadway Tuesday morning.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
4/48
Debris and mud cover the entrance of the Montecito Inn after heavy rain brought flash flooding and mudslides to the area.
(Daniel Dreifuss / Associated Press)
5/48
A rainbow appears over the deadly mudslide in Montecito along Olive Mill Road.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
6/48
A man walks by destruction along Olive Mill Road in Montecito.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
7/48
A sheriffs deputy stands near a body covered by a tarp near Hot Springs Road in Montecito after a deadly mudslide swept through the area.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
8/48
Mangled cars are stuck near Olive Mill Road in Montecito after a major storm hit the burn area Tuesday.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
9/48
A mangled car along with other debris is wrapped around a tree along Hot Springs Road in Montecito.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
10/48
Scene from the 300 block of Hot Springs Road in Montecito following debris and mud flow due to heavy rain Tuesday morning.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
11/48
Sheriffs deputies carry a body from the debris near Hot Springs Road in Montecito after a major storm hit the burn area Tuesday.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times )
12/48
Orange County search-and-rescue crews look for missing people along Olive Mill Road and Hot Springs Road in Montecito.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
13/48
A house is left among boulders and mud along Glen Oaks Drive in Montecito.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
14/48
The 101 Freeway is covered with mud and debris at Olive Mill Road in Montecito.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
15/48
Montecito resident Terry Connery, second from left, is assisted on Wednesday by, from left, firefighters Mark Todd, John Cecena and Jeff Shea after the storm.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
16/48
A home off of Romero Canyon Road in Montecito is inundated with mud.
(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
17/48
Crews work to clear debris from the closed 101 Freeway at Olive Mill Road in Montecito.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
18/48
The 101 Freeway remains closed as mud and debris clog the roadway at the Olive Mill Road overpass in Montecito.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
19/48
A member of the search and rescue team inpsects property near a home along Glen Oaks Drive in Montecito.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
20/48
Ventura County fire Capt. Clay Cundiff searches a home for a woman who was reported missing by friends and family on Lilac Drive and Tollis Avenue in Montecito. She was later found safe.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
21/48
A member of the San Bernardino Search and Rescue holds a picture that was found along the East Cold Springs Creek in Montecito after a major storm hit the burn area Wednesday.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
22/48
Tim O’Donnell, a member of the L.A. County Search and Rescue team, searches under Ashley Road along the East Cold Springs Creek in Montecito after a major storm hit the burn area Wednesday.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
23/48
Travis Zehntner looks over the wreckage of a Glen Oaks Drive home where family friend Rebecca Riskin was killed.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
24/48
A home on West Park Lane along San Ysidro Creek in Montecito on Thursday.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
25/48
A Cantin family holiday card in a pile of debris in the 300 block of Hot Springs Road in Montecito. From left, Kim, mother who survived; father David, who was killed; son Jack, who is still missing; and daugher Lauren, who was pulled from the family home early Wednesday.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
26/48
A structure sits in a tree Friday on East Valley Road in Montecito.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
27/48
A dog and its handler from Riverside County search the rubble of a Hot Springs Road home Friday in Montecito.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
28/48
Water rises high near a home on East Valley Road on Friday in Montecito.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times )
29/48
A dog helps rescue workers search through rocks, mud and debris for bodies Saturday in Montecito.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
30/48
Firefighters look for missing people along Hot Springs Road in Montecito on Saturday.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
31/48
Los Angeles City firefighter Jeffrey Neu gives water to Faith, a cadaver dog, while searching in a wood pile in Montectio Creek.
(Michael Owen Baker / For The Times)
32/48
A Montecito freeway sign sits in mud on Highway 101.=
(Michael Owen Baker / For The Times)
33/48
A view of the Thomas Fire burn zone and San Ysidro Creek in the Santa Ynez Mountains which brought mud and debris into Montecito neighborhoods.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
34/48
Los Angeles City firefighter Hollyn Bullock uses a rescue tool to pry open a car door along Montecito Creek.
(Michael Owen Baker / For The Times)
35/48
Montecito neighbors hug at a candlelight vigil outside the Santa Barbara Courthouse.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
36/48
Mourners gather for a candlelight vigil outside the Santa Barbara Courthouse Sunday for victims of the Montecito mudslides.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
37/48
Geness Lorien listens to speakers during a candlelight vigil outside the Santa Barbara Courthouse.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
38/48
Mourners gather for a candlelight vigil outside the Santa Barbara Courthouse Sunday for victims of the Montecito mudslides.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
39/48
Mark Vance shovels mud away from his house on Olive Mill Road in Montecito, California.
(Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times)
40/48
Jesse Rudnick, with the Regional Task Force 1 out of Marin County Fire and Rescue, searches for missing people around a Montecito home.
(Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times)
41/48
Hugo Bautista, left and Jose Garcia, contractors with Union Pacific Railroad make sure track is clear at the Olive Mill Road crossing in Montecito.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
42/48
Amtrak has added extra trains and cars for passengers trying to get around the 101 Freeway closure in Montecito.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
43/48
Crews continue to clear mud and debris from the 101 Freeway near Olive Mill Road on Tuesday, January 16, 2018. Officials said they hoped to have the freeway opened by next Monday.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
44/48
Cal Trans crews work on clearing a drain along the 101 Freeway in Montecito on Tuesday, January 16, 2018.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
45/48
A worker takes a breather from directing a bulldozer driver who clears mud from the 101 freeway in Montecito.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
46/48
Progress is slowly being made as a worker and trucks traverse a recently cleared portion of the the 101 freeway at Olive Mill Road in Montecito.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
47/48
Santa Barbara Supervisor Joan Hartmann, from front left, Jefferson Litten, Hartmann’s Chief of Staff, and San Barbara City Councilman Eric Friedman, pink shirt, join others as they applaud first responders, fire fighters and law enforcement who’ve been aiding in the aftermath of the Montecito mudslide during a community meeting at the La Cumbre Junior High School in Santa Barbara.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
48/48
Margaret Stewart, with the Los Angeles City Fire Department, watches as her dog, Veya, tries to locate a victim of the mudslide along Highway 101 at Olive Mill Road in Montecito.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
At home, Miller watched the news as news video footage showed car-size boulders on neighborhood streets, homes knocked off their foundations, and debris and ash had made its way down from the burned hillsides and into the streets.
Advertisement
“I don’t think people were expecting to have all this mud and debris to come down the way it did,” he said. “A lot of people were trapped in their home.”
But with most of the eastern side of Montecito without power or cellphone service, he’s had a hard time reaching friends and relatives.
Meanwhile, Miller said he’s fortunate enough to have some power and has been keeping neighbors informed about the latest details of the storms and the devastation that has hit their community.
“The same houses that had a hard time with the fire, just got hit even harder with he rain.”
Ruben Vives is a general assignment reporter for the Los Angeles Times. A native of Guatemala, he got his start in journalism by writing for The Times’ Homicide Report in 2007. He helped uncover the financial corruption in the city of Bell that led to criminal charges against eight city officials. The 2010 investigative series won the Pulitzer Prize for public service and other prestigious awards.
Michael Livingston was a Metpro trainee from 2017-18 at the Los Angeles Times. He previously worked as a crime reporter at the Herald in Rock Hill, S.C. and the Danville Register & Bee in Virginia. While at the Register & Bee, he won multiple Virginia Press Assn. awards for crime and breaking news reporting. He graduated from Virginia Union University in Richmond.
