On January 9, Montecito, California experienced a natural disaster rescuers could only describe as “apocalyptic,” according to ABC News. The “perfect storm” that resulted in these historically massive mudslides was reportedly caused by a recent change in the surrounding landscape.
In December, California experienced its largest wildfire in recorded history, known as the Thomas Fire. CNN reported that this immense fire “burned more than 281,000 acres in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties from early December into this month.” National Geographic reported that the fire was caused by effects of climate change.
As firefighters sought to save Santa Barbara and Montecito from the flames, they allowed all the vegetation in the areas surrounding the towns to burn. When heavy wind and rain pounded down on Montecito, the layer of mud and debris on the hills around the town began to slide off. Nothing was left to absorb the water. This resulted in the equivalent of a million dump trucks worth of sludge descending upon Montecito.
Tom Fayram, a deputy public works director with Santa Barbara County told CNN News that “Montecito and Carpinteria are especially vulnerable to mudslides because the steep terrain in some places goes from thousands of feet above sea level to sea level in just a few miles.”
Rescue crews faced many challenges, especially the initial obstacle of gaining access to the town. Downed limbs and trees littered most of the roads, and rescuers were unable to survey the extent of the damage until helicopters were deployed. One rescuer said to ABC News that the mudslides caused the town to “look like a World War I battlefield.”
Broken and leaking gas pipes created further problems, making it both hard to hear anyone who may have been trapped in the debris and too dangerous for rescue crews to use chainsaws or any other machinery that may have started a fire.
Figuring out where to move all the debris to has proved to be yet another issue. Some crews have begun dumping onto local beaches, causing residents to worry about the environmental impact. There are concerns that harmful debris will make its way into the ocean and contaminate the water.
Over 200 homes were damaged or destroyed and, as of January 21, Fox News listed the death toll at 21, with 2 still missing. According to Fox, “Sixteen human remain detection dog teams are working throughout California to locate missing victims.”
Speaking to CNN, the Sheriff of Montecito stated that “realistically we suspect that we are going to continue to have discovery of people who were killed in this incident,” but that “We certainly are searching for a miracle right now.”
On January 11, Governor Jerry Brown announced an increase in federal disaster relief aid. The main travel route connecting Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, U.S. 101, was finally reopened on January 21, twelve days after the initial mudslides.
Despite this progress, heavy rains are predicted to descend on the area again during the week of January 28 to February 3. In light of these predictions, officials are working on creating better evacuation plans for future incidents.