Mudslides and flooding kill at least 13 in California, US

In the United States, at least 13 people died and thousands fled from their homes in Southern California yesterday as a powerful rainstorm triggered flash floods and mudslides on slopes where a series of intense wildfires burned off protective vegetation last month. 

Heavy downpours struck before dawn yesterday after thousands of residents in Santa Barbara County along the Pacific coast north of Los Angeles were ordered to evacuate. 

But only 10 to 15 percent complied with mandatory orders, said Amber Anderson, a spokeswoman for the Santa Barbara Fire Department.Emergency workers, using search dogs and helicopters, have rescued dozens of people stranded in rubble, Anderson



said. 

The mudslide toppled trees and demolished cars and covered blocks of quiet residential neighborhoods with a thick layer of mud, Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said at a news conference.

The threat of mudslides prompted the county to order 7,000 residents to leave their homes before the rains came and to urge 23,000 others to evacuate voluntarily. The county set up an evacuation shelter at Santa Barbara City College and also gave residents a place to take their animals.

The overnight rains forced road closures, including a 48-km stretch of US Highway 101, essentially cutting off traffic between Santa Barbara and Ventura counties northwest of Los Angeles.