Officials Issue New Warning To Montecito Residents, Danger of Debris Flow
SANTA BARBARA (CBSLA/AP) — Residents in Montecito are being warned that there is still a grave danger of debris flows in the area.
The warning was issued by Santa Barbara County officials and comes just weeks after mudslides devastated the area, killing 21 people and destroying more than 100 homes.
"We have a very heightened danger," said Sheriff Bill Brown to CBS2's Randy Paige. "We are very vulnerable now, even more so than January 9."
Local emergency authorities preparing for future storms like the one that devastated the Southern California community of Montecito with massive debris flows have eliminated the word "voluntary" from language used in evacuation orders.
Santa Barbara County officials told a press conference Thursday that the new terminology will be "pre-evacuation advisory," "recommended evacuation warning" and "mandatory evacuation order."
Many residents remained in Montecito despite mandatory or voluntary evacuation orders when the deadly storm hit on Jan. 9.
Sheriff Brown says that afterward it was found that some residents in the latter category focused on the word "voluntary" rather than the word "evacuation."
Two people remain missing from January's mudslides.
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