A huge mudslide crashed down on homes in a coastal hamlet with immense force Monday, killing two people and leaving up to 12 missing as a Pacific storm hammered Southern California for a fourth straight day.
Ventura County Fire Department Chief Bob Roper said as many as a dozen residents were missing in the mudslide that pummeled a four-block area of homes in tiny La Conchita, located about 70 miles northwest of Los Angeles. Nine people were injured, including a 60-year-old man who was buried for three hours.
As rescuers combed the debris, geology experts with air horns watched the hillside above, ready to sound an alarm if it moved.
The mudslide brought the number of dead from the latest wave of storms to 11 in California. The storms have sent rainfall totals to astonishing levels, turning normally mild Southern California into a giant flood zone.
The hillside in La Conchita cascaded down like a brown river as authorities were evacuating about 200 residents from the area. Trees and vegetation were carried away, leaving huge gashes of raw earth on the bluff.
