Three people are dead in Southern California after pouring rain triggered mudslides that swept homes from their foundations and blocked roads, forcing helicopter evacuations, officials said.
Two people who were found dead in Montecito on Tuesday morning may have been victims of the storm, Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Kelly Huber told the Los Angeles Times. She could not immediately provide more details.
Mudflows swept three homes from their foundations and left at least eight injured in Montecito, officials said. Firefighters helped several residents escape the area and photos showed a car overturned by debris.
In Ventura County, heavy rains contributed to a five-car crash that left one woman dead and two injured on Highway 126, the California Highway Patrol said.
Officials in Santa Barbara County warned of ‘highly dangerous road conditions’ on Tuesday morning as wrong-way drivers were spotted on key coastal highway US 101 attempting to flee the evacuation zones.
‘Hazardous situation. Vehicles are driving the wrong way on the Highway 101. Highly dangerous road conditions. Emergency service personnel are working quickly to clear roads,’ officials said in a flash bulletin. ‘Please stay off the roads. Stay home and be safe.’
Emergency personnel rescue people from rising flood waters and debris after a mudslide in Montecito early Tuesday
An overturned car is seen entangled in debris after a mudslide in Montecito, California early Tuesday
A flash flood warning is seen posted in Santa Barbara County on Monday. Two people are dead after pouring rain triggered mudslides blocking roads in areas that were ravaged by wildfire, officials said
Mandatory evacuation zones (red) and voluntary evacuation zones (yellow) are seen to the east and west of Santa Barbara. The red lines to the west of the city are canyons that are at high risk of mudslides following wildfires
Helicopters were being used even during the downpours because roads were blocked, Santa Barbara County spokeswoman Amber Anderson said.
‘The primary issue right now is access. We’ve got trees and power lines down,’ she said.
There were reports of injuries, but Anderson didn’t immediately know how many or the extent. She said ‘multiple’ residents had been rescued and more were calling for help in Montecito and Carpinteria.
Thousands were without power. Evacuation orders were issued Monday over fears of mudslides in those foothill neighborhoods where the state’s largest-ever fire raged last month.
Water and debris in lanes brought US 101 to a standstill, and traffic accidents on rain-slicked roadways across the region slowed the morning commute to a crawl.
The first significant storm of the season soaked much of the state.
Record-breaking rain fell on the San Francisco Bay region before the storm largely passed overnight, leaving diminishing showers there before dawn Tuesday. Stormy weather continued to the east in the Central Valley and Sierra Nevada.
Downtown San Francisco had a record 3.15 inches of rain on Monday, smashing the old mark of 2.36 inches set in 1872 and making it the city’s 16th wettest day since 1849, the National Weather Service said.
A woman walks in the rain at a vista point with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background Monday. Downtown San Francisco had a record 3.15 inches of rain on Monday, smashing the old mark of 2.36 inches set in 1872
Rain water pools where a Fountaingrove neighborhood home once stood Monday in Santa Rosa, California
Aworker secures a roll of wattle for erosion control in Santa Rosa’s wildfire damaged Coffey Park neighborhood Monday
A roll of wattle for erosion control circles a homesite in Santa Rosa’s wildfire damaged Coffey Park neighborhood Monday
To the south, a staggering 9.6 inches of rain fell on Mining Ridge on the Big Sur coast. Highway 1, still not recovered from last winter’s damaging rains, suffered new blockages.
Forecasters issued flash flood warnings and predicted that the cold front with powerful winds could bring higher rain totals to downtown Los Angeles than recorded over the past 10 months.
Mandatory evacuations were ordered for about 700 homes in former burn areas of Los Angeles County.
A winter weather advisory was in place for mountain areas, where officials warned motorists to prepare for difficult travel conditions, including gusty winds, low visibility and snow-covered roads
A yearslong drought eased in the state last spring, but Northern California had a dry start to winter and hardly any measurable rain fell in the south over the past six months.
The extremely dry conditions and high winds last year led to some of the most destructive blazes on both ends of the state.