At least 20 people have died as a result of the mudslides that devastated Montecito, California, according to the California Department of Fire and Forestry Protection.
John “Jack” Keating, 53, who had been listed as missing, was found alive in Ventura, the sherrif’s office said Monday. Keating, who is a transient, was in Carpinteria during the storm, not in Montecito as previously thought, the sherrif’s office said. He sent the sheriff’s office a selfie with his dog, “Tiny.”
The mudslides came in the early morning hours of Tuesday, destroying an estimated 65 homes and damaging hundreds of others, the Cal Fire release said.
The rain poured down on hillsides charred by recent wildfires, which burned vegetation that otherwise could make the terrain more resistant to mudslides.
The Thomas Fire – the largest wildfire in California’s recorded history –burned more than 281,000 acres in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties from early December into this month. It wasn’t fully contained until Friday.
The mudslides, which came in the early morning hours of Tuesday, destroyed dozens of homes. Those killed ranged in age from 3 to 89, and all lived in Montecito in Santa Barbara County, northwest of Los Angeles, authorities said.
Now, what had been a search-and-rescue operation authorities is a search-and-recovery undertaking. The crews probably won’t be hampered by bad weather most of this week. The first chance of rain will come Thursday night to Friday and it is estimated to amount generally to less than a third of an inch, CNN meteorologists said.
An aerial view of Montecito, California, shows mudflow and debris on Wednesday, January 10, 2018. Heavy rains unleashed deadly mudslides Tuesday that damaged or swept away dozens of homes in Southern California.
Photos: Deadly mudslides in Southern California
Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP
A damaged home is seen in Montecito on January 10, 2018.
Photos: Deadly mudslides in Southern California
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Part of a structure sits in a tree after being knocked off its foundation by a Montecito mudslide on January 10, 2018.
Photos: Deadly mudslides in Southern California
Kenneth Song/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom
Emergency personnel carry a woman from a collapsed house after a mudslide in Montecito on January 9, 2018.
Photos: Deadly mudslides in Southern California
Mike Eliason/SBC Fire Department/Newscom/ZUMA Press/Newscom
Kerry Mann navigates the large boulders and mudflow that destroyed her friend's home in Montecito.
Photos: Deadly mudslides in Southern California
Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images
A view of the 101 freeway from Olive Mill Road in Montecito.
Photos: Deadly mudslides in Southern California
Michael Owen Baker/AP
Phillip Harnsberger crosses through mud from a flooded creek in Montecito on January 9, 2018.
Photos: Deadly mudslides in Southern California
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Mud fills the interior of a destroyed car in Burbank on January 9, 2018.
Photos: Deadly mudslides in Southern California
Mike Eliason/Santa Barbara County Fire Department via AP
Runoff water from a creek floods Highway 101 in Montecito on January 9, 2018. Flooding forced many heavily traveled roads to close.
Photos: Deadly mudslides in Southern California
Mike Eliason/AP
Reilly, a search dog with the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, looks for victims in Montecito on January 9, 2018.
Photos: Deadly mudslides in Southern California
Ronen Tivony/NurPhoto via Getty Images
A firefighter clears debris in Los Angeles on January 9, 2018.
Photos: Deadly mudslides in Southern California
David Crane/AP
A van is stuck in the mud in the Sun Valley neighborhood of Los Angeles on January 9, 2018.
Photos: Deadly mudslides in Southern California
FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images
A police vehicle drives across a flooded side road in Montecito, near the San Ysidro exit of Highway 101 on January 9, 2018.
Photos: Deadly mudslides in Southern California
ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images
Mud covers a road in Burbank on January 9, 2018.
Photos: Deadly mudslides in Southern California
ANDREW GOMBERT/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock
Los Angeles firefighters work amid floodwaters and mud on January 9, 2018.
Photos: Deadly mudslides in Southern California
Daniel Dreifuss/AP
A member of the Long Beach search and rescue team looks for survivors in a car in Montecito on January 9, 2018.
Photos: Deadly mudslides in Southern California
David Crane/AP
Mud washes away personal belongings in the Sun Valley neighborhood of Los Angeles on January 9, 2018.
Photos: Deadly mudslides in Southern California
Richard Vogel/AP
Rushing rainwater fills the Los Angeles River near downtown Los Angeles.
The cleanup effort is arduous. Santa Barbara District Attorney Joyce Dudley said in a statement Sunday those who “encumber the continuing rescue efforts by unnecessarily entering the affected areas” could face fines and even jail.
She noted that the area is west of Sheffield Drive/East Valley Road/Ladera Lane, east of Olive Mill/Hot Springs Road, north of the ocean, and south of the US Forest Service boundary.
A Cal Fire search and rescue crew at a storm-damaged home in Montecito.
Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP
“Those areas are not only active search areas, but also remain dangerous. Therefore, unauthorized persons who enter those areas will not only interfere with critical and time-urgent search and rescue efforts, but may also become victims themselves.”
A portion of US 101 – a major freeway connecting Northern and Southern California – will remain closed for at least another week through Montecito because of ongoing clean-up and repairs, and rain in the weekend forecast, according to the California Department of Transportation.
CNN’s Faith Karimi, Steve Almasy, Dakin Andone and Cheri Mossburg contributed to this report.
