Firefighters rescue 14-year-old girl from California home destroyed by mudslides
— -- Firefighters in Southern California rescued a 14-year-old girl who was trapped in a home destroyed by mudslides.
Photos and video released by the Santa Barbara County Fire Department show the girl covered in mud as firefighters guided her out of the Montecito home, which was reduced to a pile of rubble by the mudslides caused by heavy rain.
The girl was trapped inside the home for hours, fire officials said. Further details on her condition were not immediately available.
Multiple homes on the same block sustained damage from the storm, with some being ripped completely from their foundations. Firefighters used dogs to search for victims inside the destroyed structures.
The fire department also shared photos of U.S. Route 101 that was flooded with runoff water from Montecito Creek.
Thousands of people in wildfire-affected areas in Santa Barbara and Los Angeles counties were ordered to evacuate on Monday ahead of a winter storm that brought heavy rain to the area.
Flash flooding, debris flow and mudslides ripped through communities hit hard by the Thomas and La Tune fires, where hundreds of thousands of acres were charred, leaving no where for the water to go.
At least six people have died from weather-related incidents, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office said today. The rain in Southern California is expected to subside Tuesday evening as the storm moves east.
