MONTECITO, Calif. (AP) — At least 13 people were killed and dozens of homes were swept away or heavily damaged Tuesday as downpours sent mud and boulders roaring down hills stripped of vegetation by a gigantic wildfire that raged in Southern California last month.
Helicopters were used to pluck more than 50 people from rooftops because downed trees and power lines blocked roads, and dozens more were rescued on the ground, including a mud-caked 14-year-old girl pulled from a collapsed Montecito home where she had been trapped for hours.
"I thought I was dead for a minute there," the dazed girl could be heard saying on video posted by KNBC-TV before she was taken away on a stretcher.
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Photo: Mike Eliason/Santa Barbara County Fire Department
The US 101 Freeway at the Olive Mill Road overpass flooded with runoff water from Montecito Creek.
The US 101 Freeway at the Olive Mill Road overpass flooded with runoff water from Montecito Creek.
Photo: Mike Eliason/Santa Barbara County Fire Department
In a Santa Barbara County Fire Department photo, mud and debris fill the Olive Mill Road underpass on U.S. 101 from flooding on Montecito Creek in Montecito, Calif., Jan. 9, 2018. Drenching rain sent mud roaring down the hillsides of Santa Barbara County on Tuesday, killing at least five people, carrying houses off their foundations, snapping telephone poles and wrapping vehicles around trees, the authorities said.
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In a Santa Barbara County Fire Department photo, mud and debris fill the Olive Mill Road underpass on U.S. 101 from flooding on Montecito Creek in Montecito, Calif., Jan. 9, 2018. Drenching rain sent mud
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Photo: Mike Eliason, Santa Barbara County Fire Department
The US 101 Freeway at the Olive Mill Road overpass flooded with runoff water from Montecito Creek.
The US 101 Freeway at the Olive Mill Road overpass flooded with runoff water from Montecito Creek.
Photo: Mike Eliason/Santa Barbara County Fire Department
The US 101 Freeway at the Olive Mill Road overpass flooded with runoff water from Montecito Creek.
The US 101 Freeway at the Olive Mill Road overpass flooded with runoff water from Montecito Creek.
Photo: Mike Eliason/Santa Barbara County Fire Department
A truck remains stuck since early morning when mud brought it to a standstill along a flooded US 101 freeway near the San Ysidro exit in Montecito, California on January 9, 2018. Mudslides unleashed by a ferocious storm demolished homes in southern California and killed at least 13 people, police said Tuesday.
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A truck remains stuck since early morning when mud brought it to a standstill along a flooded US 101 freeway near the San Ysidro exit in Montecito, California on January 9, 2018. Mudslides unleashed by a
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Photo: FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images
A police vehicle drives across a flooded side road off the US 101 freeway near the San Ysidro exit in Montecito, California on January 9, 2018. Mudslides unleashed by a ferocious storm demolished homes in southern California and killed at least 13 people, police said Tuesday.
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A police vehicle drives across a flooded side road off the US 101 freeway near the San Ysidro exit in Montecito, California on January 9, 2018. Mudslides unleashed by a ferocious storm demolished homes in
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Photo: FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images
A vehicle drives across a flooded US 101 freeway near the San Ysidro exit in Montecito, California on January 9, 2018. Mudslides unleashed by a ferocious storm demolished homes in southern California and killed at least 13 people, police said Tuesday.
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A vehicle drives across a flooded US 101 freeway near the San Ysidro exit in Montecito, California on January 9, 2018. Mudslides unleashed by a ferocious storm demolished homes in southern California and killed
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Photo: FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images
A man who gave his name only as Ian rides his bike through a mud puddle in Montecito, Calif., Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018. More than a dozen people were killed and homes were torn from their foundations Tuesday as downpours sent mud and boulders roaring down hills stripped of vegetation by a wildfire that raged in Southern California last month.
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A man who gave his name only as Ian rides his bike through a mud puddle in Montecito, Calif., Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018. More than a dozen people were killed and homes were torn from their foundations Tuesday as
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Photo: Michael Owen Baker/AP
In this photo provided by Santa Barbara County Fire Department, mud and debris flow due to heavy rain in Montecito. Calif., Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018. A fire official says five people have been killed by mudslides that swept Southern California homes from their foundations as a powerful storm drenched recent wildfire burn areas.
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In this photo provided by Santa Barbara County Fire Department, mud and debris flow due to heavy rain in Montecito. Calif., Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018. A fire official says five people have been killed by mudslides
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Photo: Mike Eliason/Santa Barbara County Fire Department
Montecito resident Donald Crouse surveys the damage on East Valley Road in Montecito, Calif., where utility lines fell onto a bridge during the rain storm, Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018.
Montecito resident Donald Crouse surveys the damage on East Valley Road in Montecito, Calif., where utility lines fell onto a bridge during the rain storm, Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018.
Photo: Michael Owen Baker/AP
This photo provided by Stacey Wright with the Santa Barbara Urban Hikers shows a small dog being rescued on Olive Mill Rd. Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018, in Montecito, Calif. More than a dozen people were killed and homes were torn from their foundations Tuesday as downpours sent mud and boulders roaring down hills stripped of vegetation by a gigantic wildfire that raged in Southern California last month.
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This photo provided by Stacey Wright with the Santa Barbara Urban Hikers shows a small dog being rescued on Olive Mill Rd. Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018, in Montecito, Calif. More than a dozen people were killed and
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Photo: Stacey Wright/AP
Firefighters successfully rescued a 14 yr old girl (right) after she was trapped for hours inside a destroyed home in Montecito.
Firefighters successfully rescued a 14 yr old girl (right) after she was trapped for hours inside a destroyed home in Montecito.
Photo: Twitter @Eliason.Mike / SBCFire Info
A women is hoisted out with the help of a San Bernardino County Sheriff's helicopter on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018, in the Santa Ana River and near the borders of Rialto, Colton, and Riverside, Calif. Three people and a dog were rescued by a helicopter after large amounts of rain fell, trapping the group at a homeless encampment in the river.
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A women is hoisted out with the help of a San Bernardino County Sheriff's helicopter on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018, in the Santa Ana River and near the borders of Rialto, Colton, and Riverside, Calif. Three people
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Photo: Stan Lim/AP
A women is hoisted out with the help of a San Bernardino County Sheriff's helicopter on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018, in the Santa Ana River and near the borders of Rialto, Colton, and Riverside, Calif. Three people and a dog were rescued by a helicopter after large amounts of rain fell, trapping the group at a homeless encampment in the river.
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A women is hoisted out with the help of a San Bernardino County Sheriff's helicopter on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018, in the Santa Ana River and near the borders of Rialto, Colton, and Riverside, Calif. Three people
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Photo: Stan Lim/AP
This photo provided by Stacey Wright with the Santa Barbara Urban Hikers shows rescue workers searching for survivors along Olive Mill Rd. Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018, in Montecito, Calif. More than a dozen people were killed and homes were torn from their foundations Tuesday as downpours sent mud and boulders roaring down hills stripped of vegetation by a gigantic wildfire that raged in Southern California last month.
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This photo provided by Stacey Wright with the Santa Barbara Urban Hikers shows rescue workers searching for survivors along Olive Mill Rd. Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018, in Montecito, Calif. More than a dozen people
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Photo: Stacey Wright/AP
A car and debris smashed against a tree along Hot Springs Road in Montecito, Calif. Heavy rain brought flash flooding and mudslides to the area in Montecito, Calif. on Tuesday, January 9, 2018. At least five people were killed and homes were swept from their foundations Tuesday as heavy rain sent mud and boulders sliding down hills stripped of vegetation by a gigantic wildfire that raged in Southern California last month.
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A car and debris smashed against a tree along Hot Springs Road in Montecito, Calif. Heavy rain brought flash flooding and mudslides to the area in Montecito, Calif. on Tuesday, January 9, 2018. At least five
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Photo: Daniel Dreifuss/AP
This photo provided by the Santa Barbara County Fire Department shows a home that has been buried in flood debris in Montecito, Calif., Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018. Several homes were swept away before dawn Tuesday when mud and debris roared into neighborhoods in Montecito from hillsides stripped of vegetation during the Thomas wildfire.
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This photo provided by the Santa Barbara County Fire Department shows a home that has been buried in flood debris in Montecito, Calif., Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018. Several homes were swept away before dawn Tuesday
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Photo: Mike Eliason/AP
Jeremy Felch, left, gets help from his neighbor Ralf Quint, in placing sandbags in front of his home on Spring Trail in Kagel Canyon, in preparation for expected heavy rains later tonight.
Jeremy Felch, left, gets help from his neighbor Ralf Quint, in placing sandbags in front of his home on Spring Trail in Kagel Canyon, in preparation for expected heavy rains later tonight.
Photo: Mel Melcon, Los Angeles Times
This photo provided by the Santa Barbara County Fire Department shows a boat that has pierced a travel trailer in Montecito, Calif., Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018. 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.
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This photo provided by the Santa Barbara County Fire Department shows a boat that has pierced a travel trailer in Montecito, Calif., Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018. Several homes were swept away before dawn Tuesday when
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Photo: Mike Eliason/AP
Santa Barbara County Fire Search Dog Reilly looks for victims in damaged and destroyed homes in Montecito, California on January 9, 2018 following deadly runoff of mud and debris from heavy rain overnight.
Santa Barbara County Fire Search Dog Reilly looks for victims in damaged and destroyed homes in Montecito, California on January 9, 2018 following deadly runoff of mud and debris from heavy rain overnight.
Photo: Mike Eliason/Santa Barbara County Fire Department
A structure is smashed against a tree along Hot Springs Road in Montecito, Calif. after getting hit by a flash flood and debris flow on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018. 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.
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A structure is smashed against a tree along Hot Springs Road in Montecito, Calif. after getting hit by a flash flood and debris flow on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018. Several homes were swept away before dawn Tuesday
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Photo: Daniel Dreifuss, Associated Press
Californian Firefighters successfully rescued a 14 yr old girl (right) after she was trapped for hours inside a destroyed home in Montecito following mudslides caused by heavy rain falls on January 9, 2018. Waist-deep mudflow in the Montecito knocked houses from their foundations, Santa Barbara County Fire Department spokesman Mike Eliason told the LA Times.
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Californian Firefighters successfully rescued a 14 yr old girl (right) after she was trapped for hours inside a destroyed home in Montecito following mudslides caused by heavy rain falls on January 9, 2018.
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Photo: MIKE ELIASON, AFP/Getty Images
Residents gather at a road blockage on East Valley Road in Montecito, Calif., where utility lines fell onto a bridge during the rain storm, Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018.
Residents gather at a road blockage on East Valley Road in Montecito, Calif., where utility lines fell onto a bridge during the rain storm, Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018.
Photo: Michael Owen Baker/AP
Cars that were washed away are piled up on the banks of Romero Creek in Montecito, Calif., Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018. Dozens of homes were swept away or heavily damaged Tuesday as downpours sent mud and boulders roaring down hills stripped of vegetation by a gigantic wildfire that raged in Southern California last month.
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Cars that were washed away are piled up on the banks of Romero Creek in Montecito, Calif., Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018. Dozens of homes were swept away or heavily damaged Tuesday as downpours sent mud and boulders
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Photo: Michael Owen Baker/AP
This photo provided by the Santa Barbara County Fire Department shows damaged vehicles carried by mud flow and debris at the parking garage of The Montecito Inn in Montecito, Calif., Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018. Several homes were swept away before dawn Tuesday when mud and debris roared into neighborhoods in Montecito from hillsides stripped of vegetation during the Thomas wildfire.
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This photo provided by the Santa Barbara County Fire Department shows damaged vehicles carried by mud flow and debris at the parking garage of The Montecito Inn in Montecito, Calif., Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018.
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Photo: Mike Eliason/AP
Debris and mud cover the entrance of the Montecito Inn after heavy rain brought flash flooding and mudslides to the area in Montecito, Calif. on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018. At least five people were killed and homes were swept from their foundations Tuesday as heavy rain sent mud and boulders sliding down hills stripped of vegetation by a gigantic wildfire that raged in Southern California last month.
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Debris and mud cover the entrance of the Montecito Inn after heavy rain brought flash flooding and mudslides to the area in Montecito, Calif. on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018. At least five people were killed and homes
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Photo: Daniel Dreifuss, Associated Press
Cars sit in mud at a housing complex in Montecito, Calif., Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018.
Cars sit in mud at a housing complex in Montecito, Calif., Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018.
Photo: Michael Owen Baker/AP
A Tesla sits in mud at a housing complex in Montecito, Calif., Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018. Dozens of homes were swept away or heavily damaged Tuesday as downpours sent mud and boulders roaring down hills stripped of vegetation by a gigantic wildfire that raged in Southern California last month. (AP Photo/Michael Owen Baker)
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A Tesla sits in mud at a housing complex in Montecito, Calif., Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018. Dozens of homes were swept away or heavily damaged Tuesday as downpours sent mud and boulders roaring down hills stripped of
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Photo: Michael Owen Baker/AP
In this photo provided by Santa Barbara County Fire Department, shows a detail of a Mercedes-Benz hood ornament stuck in the mud after the vehicle was washed away and destroyed by flood waters in Montecito, Calif. on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018. 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.
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In this photo provided by Santa Barbara County Fire Department, shows a detail of a Mercedes-Benz hood ornament stuck in the mud after the vehicle was washed away and destroyed by flood waters in Montecito,
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Photo: Mike Eliason/AP
Debris and Mud cover Hot Springs Road in Montecito, California on January 9, 2018 due to heavy rain fall in the region.
Debris and Mud cover Hot Springs Road in Montecito, California on January 9, 2018 due to heavy rain fall in the region.
Photo: Mike Eliason/Santa Barbara County Fire Department
A large boulder sits in the middle of Bella Vista Drive in Montecito, Calif., following the rain storm, Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018.
A large boulder sits in the middle of Bella Vista Drive in Montecito, Calif., following the rain storm, Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018.
Photo: Michael Owen Baker/AP
Journalists cover the news from a flooded US 101 freeway near the San Ysidro exit in Montecito, California on January 9, 2018. Mudslides unleashed by a ferocious storm demolished homes in southern California and killed at least 13 people, police said Tuesday.
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Journalists cover the news from a flooded US 101 freeway near the San Ysidro exit in Montecito, California on January 9, 2018. Mudslides unleashed by a ferocious storm demolished homes in southern California
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Photo: FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images
A car was stuck in a mudslide early Tuesday morning, Jan. 9, 2018 on Topanga Canyon Boulevard in Topanga, Calif. (Katie Falkenberg/Los Angeles Times/TNS)
A car was stuck in a mudslide early Tuesday morning, Jan. 9, 2018 on Topanga Canyon Boulevard in Topanga, Calif. (Katie Falkenberg/Los Angeles Times/TNS)
Photo: Katie Falkenberg, TNS
Debris and Mud cover Hot Springs Road in Montecito, California on January 9, 2018 due to heavy rain fall in the region.
Debris and Mud cover Hot Springs Road in Montecito, California on January 9, 2018 due to heavy rain fall in the region.
Photo: Mike Eliason/Santa Barbara County Fire Department
The main line of the Union Pacific Railroad through Montecito is blocked with mudflow and debris due to heavy rains.
The main line of the Union Pacific Railroad through Montecito is blocked with mudflow and debris due to heavy rains.
Photo: Mike Eliason/Santa Barbara County Fire Department
This photo provided by the Santa Barbara County Fire Department shows Santa Barbara County Air Support Unit helicopter under a rainbow while on a rescue mission following deadly mudflow after heavy rains trapped dozens of people in Montecito, Calif., Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018. Several homes were swept away before dawn Tuesday when mud and debris roared into neighborhoods in Montecito from hillsides stripped of vegetation during the Thomas wildfire.
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This photo provided by the Santa Barbara County Fire Department shows Santa Barbara County Air Support Unit helicopter under a rainbow while on a rescue mission following deadly mudflow after heavy rains
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Photo: Mike Eliason/AP
Mud is cleared off a side road off the US 101 freeway near the San Ysidro exit in Montecito, California on January 9, 2018. Mudslides unleashed by a ferocious storm demolished homes in southern California and killed at least 13 people, police said Tuesday.
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Mud is cleared off a side road off the US 101 freeway near the San Ysidro exit in Montecito, California on January 9, 2018. Mudslides unleashed by a ferocious storm demolished homes in southern California and
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Photo: FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images
Firefighters tend to a woman on Hot Springs Road while waiting for an ambulance. The woman was pulled by firefighters from a debris pile in Montecito caused by heavy rain runoff.
Firefighters tend to a woman on Hot Springs Road while waiting for an ambulance. The woman was pulled by firefighters from a debris pile in Montecito caused by heavy rain runoff.
Photo: Mike Eliason/Santa Barbara County Fire Department
This photo provided by Stacey Wright with the Santa Barbara Urban Hikers shows people being evacuated early Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018, in Montecito, Calif. More than a dozen people were killed and homes were torn from their foundations Tuesday as downpours sent mud and boulders roaring down hills stripped of vegetation by a gigantic wildfire that raged in Southern California last month.
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This photo provided by Stacey Wright with the Santa Barbara Urban Hikers shows people being evacuated early Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018, in Montecito, Calif. More than a dozen people were killed and homes were torn
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Photo: Stacey Wright/AP
Santa Barbara county firefighters rescue two men and a woman from flood water/debris flow of Hot Springs Rd. in Montecito. Multiple rescues are underway throughout the area.
Santa Barbara county firefighters rescue two men and a woman from flood water/debris flow of Hot Springs Rd. in Montecito. Multiple rescues are underway throughout the area.
Photo: Mike Eliason/Santa Barbara County Fire Department
Santa Barbara county firefighters rescue two men and a woman from flood water/debris flow of Hot Springs Rd. in Montecito. Multiple rescues are underway throughout the area.
Santa Barbara county firefighters rescue two men and a woman from flood water/debris flow of Hot Springs Rd. in Montecito. Multiple rescues are underway throughout the area.
Photo: Mike Eliason/Santa Barbara County Fire Department
This photo provided by Stacey Wright with the Santa Barbara Urban Hikers shows rescue workers working to revive a child pulled from the mud Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018, in Montecito, Calif. More than a dozen people were killed and homes were torn from their foundations Tuesday as downpours sent mud and boulders roaring down hills stripped of vegetation by a gigantic wildfire that raged in Southern California last month. The child's condition was unknown. (Stacey Wright/Santa Barbara Urban Hikers via AP)
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This photo provided by Stacey Wright with the Santa Barbara Urban Hikers shows rescue workers working to revive a child pulled from the mud Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018, in Montecito, Calif. More than a dozen people
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Photo: Stacey Wright/AP
Santa Barbara county firefighters rescue two men and a woman from flood water/debris flow of Hot Springs Rd. in Montecito. Multiple rescues are underway throughout the area.
Santa Barbara county firefighters rescue two men and a woman from flood water/debris flow of Hot Springs Rd. in Montecito. Multiple rescues are underway throughout the area.
Photo: Twitter @Eliason.Mike / SBCFire Info
Topanga Canyon Boulevard is closed at PCH after a car was stuck in a mudslide early Tuesday morning, Jan. 9, 2018 in Topanga, Calif. (Katie Falkenberg/Los Angeles Times/TNS)
Topanga Canyon Boulevard is closed at PCH after a car was stuck in a mudslide early Tuesday morning, Jan. 9, 2018 in Topanga, Calif. (Katie Falkenberg/Los Angeles Times/TNS)
Photo: Katie Falkenberg/TNS
A backhoe works to free a Los Angeles Police Department police squad car stuck in the mud debris on La Tuna Canyon on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018 in Sunland, Calif. (Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times/TNS)
A backhoe works to free a Los Angeles Police Department police squad car stuck in the mud debris on La Tuna Canyon on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018 in Sunland, Calif. (Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times/TNS)
Photo: Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times/TNS
Commuter Eric Horowitz sits in his car on the Northbound 101 freeway in Carpenteria, Calif as mud sits along the road from a rain storm Tuesday morning, Jan. 9, 2018. (Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times/TNS)
Commuter Eric Horowitz sits in his car on the Northbound 101 freeway in Carpenteria, Calif as mud sits along the road from a rain storm Tuesday morning, Jan. 9, 2018. (Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times/TNS)
Photo: Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times/TNS
Bill Susel, 77, removes debris from a gully in back of his home on Spring Trail in Kagel Canyon, in preparation for expected heavy rains later tonight, Monday, Jan. 8, 2018. (Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times via AP)
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Bill Susel, 77, removes debris from a gully in back of his home on Spring Trail in Kagel Canyon, in preparation for expected heavy rains later tonight, Monday, Jan. 8, 2018. (Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times via
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Photo: Mel Melcon, AP
Mitchell Barrett crosses mud from an overflown creek on Sheffield Drive in Montecito, Calif., following the heavy rain, Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018. Barrett was going to check on his parents' house in Montecito.
Mitchell Barrett crosses mud from an overflown creek on Sheffield Drive in Montecito, Calif., following the heavy rain, Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018. Barrett was going to check on his parents' house in Montecito.
Photo: Michael Owen Baker, AP
This photo provided by Ventura County Sheriff's Office shows an arial view of Montecito, Calif., with mudflow and debris due to heavy rains on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018. 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. (Ventura County Sheriff's Office via AP)
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This photo provided by Ventura County Sheriff's Office shows an arial view of Montecito, Calif., with mudflow and debris due to heavy rains on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018. Several homes were swept away before dawn
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Photo: AP
This photo provided by Ventura County Sheriff's Office shows an arial view of Montecito, Calif., with mudflow and debris due to heavy rains on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018. 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. (Ventura County Sheriff's Office via AP)
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This photo provided by Ventura County Sheriff's Office shows an arial view of Montecito, Calif., with mudflow and debris due to heavy rains on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018. Several homes were swept away before dawn
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Photo: AP
A member of the San Bernardino County Sheriff's swift water rescue team is hoisted back to a helicopter after rescuing three people and a dog on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018, in the Santa Ana River and near the borders of Rialto, Colton, and Riverside, Calif. (Stan Lim/Los Angeles Daily News via AP)
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A member of the San Bernardino County Sheriff's swift water rescue team is hoisted back to a helicopter after rescuing three people and a dog on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018, in the Santa Ana River and near the
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Photo: Stan Lim, AP
In this photo provided by Santa Barbara County Fire Department, the main line of the Union Pacific Railroad through Montecito, Calif, is blocked with mudflow and debris due to heavy rains on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018. 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. (Mike Eliason/Santa Barbara County Fire Department via AP)
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In this photo provided by Santa Barbara County Fire Department, the main line of the Union Pacific Railroad through Montecito, Calif, is blocked with mudflow and debris due to heavy rains on Tuesday, Jan. 9,
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Photo: Mike Eliason, AP
13 dead in Southern California as rain triggers mudslides
Most deaths were believed to have occurred in Montecito, a wealthy enclave of about 9,000 people northwest of Los Angeles that is home to such celebrities as Oprah Winfrey, Rob Lowe and Ellen DeGeneres, said Santa Barbara County spokesman David Villalobos.
Twenty people were hospitalized and four were described as "severely critical" by Dr. Brett Wilson of Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital.
An unknown number were unaccounted for and authorities were trying to determine if they were missing or just hadn't contacted family members.
The search for survivors continued into the evening, though Wilson noted that their conditions would deteriorate if they got wet.
The mud was unleashed in the dead of night by flash flooding in the steep, fire-scarred Santa Ynez Mountains. Burned-over zones are especially susceptible to destructive mudslides because scorched earth doesn't absorb water well and the land is easily eroded when there are no shrubs.
The torrent arrived suddenly and with a sound some likened to a freight train as water carrying rocks and trees washed away cars and trashed homes, smashing some into piles of lumber and filling others waist-deep in mud.
"It looked like a World War I battlefield," Santa Barbara Sheriff Bill Brown said. "It was literally a carpet of mud and debris everywhere with huge boulders, rocks, downed trees, power lines, wrecked cars, lots of obstacles and challenges for rescue personnel to get to homes, let alone to get people out of them."
Thomas Tighe said he stepped outside his Montecito home in the middle of the night and heard "a deep rumbling, an ominous sound I knew was ... boulders moving as the mud was rising."
Two cars were missing from his driveway and he watched two others slowly move sideways down the middle of the street "in a river of mud."
In daylight, Tighe was shocked to see a body pinned by muck against his neighbor's home. He wasn't sure who it was.
Authorities had been bracing for the possibility of catastrophic flooding because of heavy rain in the forecast for the first time in 10 months.
Evacuations were ordered beneath recently burned areas of Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles counties. But only an estimated 10 to 15 percent of people in a mandatory evacuation area of Santa Barbara County heeded the warning, authorities said.
Marshall Miller, who evacuated his home in Montecito on Monday with his family, returned to check for damage and found his neighborhood devastated. He never reached his home because two of his neighbors, an elderly woman and her adult daughter, needed a lift to the hospital after being rescued by firefighters.
The pair had left their house before it was inundated with 6 feet (1.8 meters) of mud, but they got trapped outside in the deep sludge and were shivering from the cold.
"It was sobering," Miller said.
The path of the deluge was graphically illustrated on the front of a white colonial-style house, where a dark gray stain created a wavy pattern running the length of the house halfway up the front windows.
Aerial footage above Montecito showed what appeared to be a muddy river flowing through town. In fact, it was U.S. Highway 101, the link connecting Ventura and Santa Barbara, covered with trees and other debris and expected to be closed for two days.
Some of the worst damage was on Montecito's Hot Springs Road, where the unidentified girl was rescued and residents had been under a voluntary evacuation warning. Large boulders were washed out of a previously dry creek bed and scattered across the road.
A rescuer working with a search dog walked among the ruins of a house as the yellow Labrador wagged its tail and scrambled into a destroyed building, looking for anyone trapped inside. Its belly and paws were black from the mud.
The worst of the rainfall occurred in a 15-minute span starting at 3:30 a.m. Montecito got more than a half-inch in five minutes, while Carpinteria received nearly an inch in 15 minutes.
"All hell broke loose," said Peter Hartmann, a dentist who moonlights as a news photographer for the local website Noozhawk.
"There were gas mains that had popped, where you could hear the hissing," he said. "Power lines were down, high-voltage power lines, the large aluminum poles to hold those were snapped in half. Water was flowing out of water mains and sheared-off fire hydrants."
Hartmann watched rescuers revive a toddler pulled unresponsive from the muck.
"It was a freaky moment to see her just covered in mud," he said.
Hartmann said he found a tennis trophy awarded in 1991 to a father-son team his wife knows.
"Both of them were caught in the flood. Son's in the hospital, dad hasn't been found yet," he said, declining to name them.
The first confirmed death was Roy Rohter, a former real estate broker who founded St. Augustine Academy in Ventura. The Catholic school's headmaster, Michael Van Hecke, announced the death and said Rohter's wife was injured by the mudslide.
Montecito is beneath the scar left by a wildfire that erupted Dec. 4 and became the largest ever recorded in California. It spread over more than 440 square miles (1,140 square kilometers) and destroyed 1,063 homes and other structures. It continues to smolder deep in the wilderness.
The storm walloped much of the state with damaging winds and thunderstorms and dumped up to 18 inches (45 centimeters) of snow in the Sierra Nevada. Downtown San Francisco got a record 3.15 inches (8 centimeters) of rain on Monday, smashing the old mark of 2.36 inches (6 centimeters) set in 1872.
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Weber reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press writers John Antczak, Michael Balsamo and Brian Melley in Los Angeles and Alina Hartounian in Phoenix contributed to this report.
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