Montecito California gets slammed with mudslide

As the state of California cleans up from the recent mudslides, they remember the 21 lives of children, students, young adults, middle aged executives, retirees, and immigrants from all over the world that were killed. Sixty homes destroyed and over 600 homes were damaged within a couple hours of a horrific mudslide. Montecito, California, the town hit the hardest in Santa Barbara county, was where all the devastation occurred.

California was still recovering from major fires when the mudslides hit. A total of 9,054 fires burned 1,381,405 acres in the state total. The destroyed vegetation from the wildfires and the ground softening contributed to making the mudslide possible. With the fire taking all of the nutrients and stability of the land, it is easy for mudslides to have a major effect.

Rapidly moving water and debris caused broken electrical, water, gas, and sewage. Highways and railroads were disrupted and Highway 101 was even shut down; however, it was reopened Sunday, Jan. 21. Officials are making progress on the cleanup and hope residents may return to their homes by the end of the month, according to Associated Press.

Of the 21 lives lost, all were Montecito residents and ranged in age from 3 to 89 years old. The Montecito Inn payed tribute to these victims by shining a bright light for the week of Feb. 5 to 12, according to KSBY Channel Six.

In a post on its Facebook page, the Montecito Inn writes, “Our desire is that it will act as a beacon of light to bring hope to our community in a time of darkness.”