Aerial tour shows widespread devastation mudflows caused in S. California
MONTECITO, California -- An aerial tour of the mud damage in Montecito shows just how widespread and destructive this week's storm was to the seaside community.
Homes, cars and freeways are buried in mud, rocks and debris.
Mud poured through the front doors of homes, tossing cars around like toys.
The historic Montecito Inn, built in the 1920s, sits surrounded by a lake of mud.
All the mud came down from barren hillsides, stripped bare by last year's wildfires.
It rumbled downhill in a thick wall that picked up and carried boulders the size of cars, burying entire homes.
For one home, all that can be seen is a chimney sticking up out of the muck.
The mud also seeped into a country club and took over a golf course.
Now that the rain is gone, ground crews are working on digging out the town.
They're trying to repair damaged railroad tracks.
And a lengthy stretch of the 101 Freeway remains shut down, covered in mud. Crews are trying to clean up the mess, one tractor bucket at a time, but Caltrans believes the freeway won't reopen until at least Friday if not later.
