At least 5 dead as heavy rains trigger flooding, mudflows and freeway closures across Southern California

Heavy rains triggered freeway closures throughout the region Tuesday and unleashed mudflows in areas ravaged by wildfires last month, shutting down more than 30 miles of the 101 Freeway and leaving at least five people dead as rescue personnel scrambled through clogged roadways and downed trees, officials said.At least five people had died in the Montecito area after a heavy band of rain struck around 2:30 a.m. causing “waist-high” mudflows, according to Mike Eliason, a public information officer for the Santa Barbara County Fire Department. The mudflows knocked three homes from their foundations and left fire personnel rushing to free people trapped in vehicles and homes, according to Eliason, who said a child was among those injured. Additional details about the deaths were not immediately available.

Emergency crews in the area have also received numerous unconfirmed missing-person reports, Eliason said. “We’re still hoping that’s not the case,” he said. Around 8:30 a.m., Eliason said rescue crews were trying to save a man trapped inside a home that had been pushed into a row of trees. At least three structures had been “completely wiped away,” he said. The highest preliminary rainfall total appeared to register at roughly 5 inches in a gauge north of Ojai in Ventura County, in the burn area of the Thomas fire, which forced evacuations and destroyed homes last month, according to the National Weather Service in Los Angeles.

The 101 Freeway was shut down in both directions for more than 30 miles in the Thomas fire burn area because of flooding and debris flow, spanning an area from Santa Barbara to Ventura, according to the California Highway Patrol. Highway 33 also has been closed between Fairview and Rose Valley roads north of Ojai, according to the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department.

In Los Angeles County, one person was killed when a big rig overturned in the northbound lanes of the 5 Freeway near Los Feliz, said Saul Gomez, public information officer for the California Highway Patrol’s Southern Division. All northbound lanes were closed as of 4 a.m., though Gomez said police were hoping to reopen the roadway by 8 a.m.


Bron afbeelding: LATimes

The victim, who was not identified, was approximately 60 years old, Gomez said. No one else was injured. While the accident happened as rain fell across Los Angeles County, Gomez said he could not confirm the crash was storm-related.

Santa Barbara County officials evacuated nearly 7,000 residents from foothill communities shortly before the heaviest surge hit the area, according to Kelly Hoover, a spokeswoman for the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office. But not everyone heeded that call. Around 3 a.m., she said, the storm became ferocious.

“We just had a deluge, a power surge of rain. And we had a report of a structure fire burning in the Montecito area, the San Ysidro area. And it just kept going downhill from there,” she said. “We have people stuck in their homes, stuck in their cars. There’s downed power lines, flooded roadways, debris.”

Hoover said the shutdown of the 101 Freeway was heavily hindering rescue efforts. “There’s no way to get from Ventura here, no way for us to get south,” Hoover said. “We’re encouraging people to stay off the roads if they’re in an evacuation area.” By 8:30 a.m., the county’s dispatch center had at least 50 calls pending, she said. The U.S. Coast Guard sent rescue helicopters with hoist capabilities into the area on Tuesday morning, she said. In Los Angeles, city fire officials also launched a swift-water rescue to aid a man and a dog trapped in rising water near the Sepulveda Basin Recreation Area.

Flooding in that area has caused road closures at Burbank Boulevard near the 405 Freeway and at the intersection of Hayvenhurst Avenue, the LAPD said. An LAPD cruiser became mired in a debris flow on La Tuna Canyon Road, according to authorities. The officer was uninjured and walked out of the vehicle. The cruiser was in the process of being dug out of the mud with a backhoe early Tuesday.

Also in Los Angeles County, a mudslide caused officials to close Topanga Canyon Boulevard, just north of Pacific Coast Highway, early Tuesday, and Burbank police were reporting “mudslide activity” that had dumped heavy debris onto Country Club Drive. The northbound lanes of the 110 Freeway near Redondo Beach Boulevard also have been closed because of flooding, the CHP said.


Bron afbeelding: LATimes

Alene Tchekmedyian, Brittny Mejia and Michael LivingstonIn the days leading up to Southern California’s first major storm in nearly a year, Patricia Beckmann Wells didn’t waste any time. She and her husband dropped sandbags around their rural Kagel Canyon home, near where the Creek fire swept through the mountains above Sylmar last month and forced... In the days leading up to Southern California’s first major storm in nearly a year, Patricia Beckmann Wells didn’t waste any time.

She and her husband dropped sandbags around their rural Kagel Canyon home, near where the Creek fire swept through the mountains above Sylmar last month and forced...(Alene Tchekmedyian, Brittny Mejia and Michael Livingston)The 101 Freeway was shut down in both directions for more than 30 miles in the Thomas fire burn area because of flooding and debris flow, spanning an area from Santa Barbara to Ventura, according to the California Highway Patrol. Highway 33 also has been closed between Fairview and Rose Valley roads north of Ojai, according to the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department.

In Los Angeles County, one person was killed when a big rig overturned in the northbound lanes of the 5 Freeway near Los Feliz, said Saul Gomez, public information officer for the California Highway Patrol’s Southern Division. All northbound lanes were closed as of 4 a.m., though Gomez said police were hoping to reopen the roadway by 8 a.m. The victim, who was not identified, was approximately 60 years old, Gomez said. No one else was injured. While the accident happened as rain fell across Los Angeles County, Gomez said he could not confirm the crash was storm-related.


Bron afbeelding: LATimes

Santa Barbara County officials evacuated nearly 7,000 residents from foothill communities shortly before the heaviest surge hit the area, according to Kelly Hoover, a spokeswoman for the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office. But not everyone heeded that call. Around 3 a.m., she said, the storm became ferocious.

“We just had a deluge, a power surge of rain. And we had a report of a structure fire burning in the Montecito area, the San Ysidro area. And it just kept going downhill from there,” she said. “We have people stuck in their homes, stuck in their cars. There’s downed power lines, flooded roadways, debris.”

Hoover said the shutdown of the 101 Freeway was heavily hindering rescue efforts. “There’s no way to get from Ventura here, no way for us to get south,” Hoover said. “We’re encouraging people to stay off the roads if they’re in an evacuation area.”

By 8:30 a.m., the county’s dispatch center had at least 50 calls pending, she said. The U.S. Coast Guard sent rescue helicopters with hoist capabilities into the area on Tuesday morning, she said.

Raw video of mudslides caused by heavy rains in southern California.SEE MORE VIDEOSIn Los Angeles, city fire officials also launched a swift-water rescue to aid a man and a dog trapped in rising water near the Sepulveda Basin Recreation Area.


Bron afbeelding: LATimes

Flooding in that area has caused road closures at Burbank Boulevard near the 405 Freeway and at the intersection of Hayvenhurst Avenue, the LAPD said. An LAPD cruiser became mired in a debris flow on La Tuna Canyon Road, according to authorities. The officer was uninjured and walked out of the vehicle. The cruiser was in the process of being dug out of the mud with a backhoe early Tuesday.

Also in Los Angeles County, a mudslide caused officials to close Topanga Canyon Boulevard, just north of Pacific Coast Highway, early Tuesday, and Burbank police were reporting “mudslide activity” that had dumped heavy debris onto Country Club Drive. The northbound lanes of the 110 Freeway near Redondo Beach Boulevard also have been closed because of flooding, the CHP said.

The CHP also said heavy rains likely contributed to a crash that left one person dead on Highway 126 in Ventura County, about 2 miles from the Los Angeles County line, on Monday afternoon. One woman died and two others were injured in the five-car crash, the agency said.


Bron afbeelding: NWS/NOAA/LATimes

The National Weather Service was reporting rainfall totals of up to 4½ inches in Ventura County and 3 inches in Santa Barbara County as of 6 a.m. Nearly 1½ inches of rain had fallen in Bel Air, which could be susceptible to mudslides and debris flow because of damage caused by the Skirball fire last month.

Vast swaths of Southern California became subject to evacuation orders Monday as the powerful rainstorm was forecast to release a deluge on areas ravaged by wildfires last month. The heaviest rainfall was expected to hit Tuesday morning.

In Los Angeles County, sheriff’s deputies went door to door Monday alerting residents about the orders in Kagel, Lopez and Little Tujunga canyons. Those who refused to leave said they had to sign a form saying they understood the risk.

Residents in burn zones in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, along with an area of Duarte, also were ordered to leave, while those in the Corona and Burbank burn areas were put on notice that they may have to evacuate if conditions worsened.

When a fire sweeps through an area, it not only burns the vegetation but damages the soil itself. The intense heat makes the soil unable to absorb water the way it normally would. In Montecito, some residents said they had shrugged off dire warnings about the rainstorm before waking up to the morning mess.


Bron afbeelding: LATimes

“I woke up ready this morning to laugh and scoff at all the gloom-and-doom predictions,” said Dominic Shiach, 50. “It’s actually way worse than I thought it was going to be.” Shiach wore a Navy raincoat as he walked Archie, his 3-year-old West Highland terrier, down Sycamore Canyon Road on Tuesday morning. Amber Anderson with the Santa Barbara Incident Management Team said there were about 75 people who called for help for evacuations. They, like Shiach, did not heed the warning to evacuate Monday.

Bron artikel: LAtimes.com | Gewijzigd: 18 januari 2018, 19:00 uur, door Justin

The largest fire in #California history, #ThomasFire, continues to terrorize with today's storm. Picture is #Montecito, US HWY 101 covered in #mudslide pic.twitter.com/pFeRdQUEwg

— juliangonzalez (@juliangonzalez) 9 januari 2018

Cleanup underway east of Carpinteria where a mudslide has damaged several homes on Foothill. Locals aren’t waiting for county assistance to clear the road! #CAstorm #mudslide pic.twitter.com/ZRxXOq0FYy

— Brandi Hitt (@ABC7Brandi) 9 januari 2018

ROAD CLOSURES: Happening all over #SoCal this morning due to heavy rain and mudslides. @CaltransHQ and @CaltransDist6 showing this on their webcams of the 101 in Santa Barbara, CA. #Flood #DebrisFlow #Mudslide #Rain #CAwx pic.twitter.com/fA2vl3Q15b

— WeatherNation (@WeatherNation) 9 januari 2018

Southern #California #Mudslide.s from #CAStorm⛈️
LATEST LOCAL INFO from 780 #SoCal news & wx sources HERE:https://t.co/vzWsnBsUUy#Mudslides due2 recent #wildfire????burn scars. #CAfire#MontecitoFlood #Montecito #CAwx #LAwx #LArain #SAR
[????@EliasonMike]pic.twitter.com/qbymzGilXz

— The Disaster Channel (@DisasterChannL) 10 januari 2018

Check out this mud flow that hit La Tuna Canyon Road around 2:50pm today. Messed up a lot of the work LA Public Works crews did after the early morning flow. LTC Rd still closed to traffic. #storm #latunacanyon #weather #mudslide pic.twitter.com/uZourY4fJO

— Rob Hayes (@abc7robhayes) 9 januari 2018

Drone video captures debris covering Highway 101 in California amid severe rain causing flooding and mudslides. #drone #flood #california #rain #flood #mud #mudslide pic.twitter.com/osjatNlIby

— nyspin (@NewYork_SPIN) 9 januari 2018

Flash flood / massive amounts of mud swept thru #montecito oaks neighborhood. Mud buckling doors trying to get in house. People on roofs. Power out. Power lines down all over #mudslide pic.twitter.com/1SvgOpqBTw

— Benjamin Hyatt (@caffeineben) 9 januari 2018

Dodental door modderstromen Californië loopt op: 17 doden

Deze foto is niet meer beschikbaar

Honderden huizen raakten beschadigd. 
© EPA

De verwoestende modderstromen door regenval in het zuiden van Californië hebben inmiddels zeventien levens geëist. Volgens de sheriff van Santa Barbara County worden nog zeker zeventien mensen vermist.

Door de massa's puin en modder die dinsdag van de hellingen kwamen werden honderd huizen vernield. 

Kinderen onder slachtoffers

De doden moeten nog worden geïdentificeerd, maar volgens de brandweer zijn ook minderjarigen het slachtoffer geworden van het natuurgeweld.

Omdat een groot deel van het gebied nog ontoegankelijk is, vrezen de autoriteiten meer doden.

Oprah Winfrey

Ook Oprah Winfrey woont in het getroffen gebied. Op haar Instagramaccount plaatste ze een video waarin ze laat zien hoe het gebied rond haar huis verwoest is door de modderstroom.

Slagveld

Met name het plaatsje Montecito, ten noorden van Los Angeles, werd hard getroffen. Reddingswerkers zoeken naar overlevenden. De sheriff beschreef de situatie als 'een slagveld uit de Eerste Wereldoorlog'.

Dezelfde regio werd onlangs geteisterd door natuurbranden. Veel vegetatie is daardoor verloren gegaan.
Bron: https://www.rtlnieuws.nl