At least 13 killed by mudslides in Southern California

A structure is smashed against a tree along Hot Springs Road in Montecito, Calif. after getting hit by a flash flood and debris flow on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018. Several homes were swept away before dawn Tuesday when mud and debris roared into neighborhoods in Montecito from hillsides stripped of vegetation during a recent wildfire. (Daniel Dreifuss)

In this photo provided by Santa Barbara County Fire Department, a flash flood area sign is posted, as evacuations have been issued for several fire-ravaged communities in Santa Barbara, Calif., Monday, Jan. 8, 2018. Property owners stacked sandbags in devastated Northern California wine country Monday as authorities in Southern California ordered about 21,000 people to evacuate below hillsides burned by the state's largest wildfire in history. (Mike Eliason/Santa Barbara County Fire Department via AP)

In this photo taken through a glass window, released by Santa Barbara County Fire Department, people fill up sandbags under the rain in Santa Barbara, Calif., Monday, Jan. 8, 2018. Storms brought rain to California on Monday and increased the risk of mudslides in fire-ravaged communities. (Mike Eliason/Santa Barbara County Fire Department via AP)

In this photo released by Santa Barbara County Fire Department, members of the Long Beach Fire Department Swift Water Rescue Team check equipment while staged at Earl Warren Showgrounds in Santa Barbara, Calif., Monday, Jan. 8, 2018. The team will respond if needed for any area flooding in the Montecito or Carpinteria areas. (Mike Eliason/Santa Barbara County Fire Department via AP)

In this photo taken through a glass window provided by Santa Barbara County Fire Department, members of the Santa Barbara Area Regional Task Force discuss plans while staged at Earl Warren Showgrounds in Santa Barbara, Calif., Monday, Jan. 8, 2018. The team will respond if needed for any flooding issues in the Montecito or Carpinteria areas. (Mike Eliason/Santa Barbara County Fire Department via AP)

Framed between a pair of Christmas trees a worker secures a roll of wattle for erosion control in the wildfire damaged Coffey Park neighborhood, Monday, Jan. 8, 2018, in Santa Rosa, Calif. Storms brought rain to California on Monday and increased the risk of mudslides in fire-ravaged communities in devastated northern wine country and authorities to order evacuations farther south for towns below hillsides burned by the state's largest-ever wildfire. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

A rolls of wattle for erosion control circle a homesite in the wildfire damaged Coffey Park neighborhood, Monday, Jan. 8, 2018, in Santa Rosa, Calif. Storms brought rain to California on Monday and increased the risk of mudslides in fire-ravaged communities in devastated northern wine country and authorities to order evacuations farther south for towns below hillsides burned by the state's largest-ever wildfire. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

County workers remove dirt from the Adams Canyon debris basin as rain began to fall in Ventura County in Ventura, Calif., Monday, Jan. 8, 2018. To reduce the risk of damage from possible debris flows, workers used heavy machinery to increase the capacity of the basin. The wet and windy system moving ashore could soak much of the state and drop several inches in parts of Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, where the biggest California blaze has burned for more than a month. (Anthony Plascencia/The Ventura County Star via AP)

Kyle Field installs rain wattles around his property as rain started falling in the area in Ventura, Calif., on Monday, Jan. 8, 2018. Though Field's home was destroyed in the Thomas Fire, he plans to rebuild and was working Monday to prevent additional damage to his neighbor's properties with the first post-fire rains approaching. The wet and windy system moving ashore could soak much of the state and drop several inches in parts of Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, where the biggest California blaze has burned for more than a month. (Anthony Plascencia/The Ventura County Star via AP)

Rainwater flows down Alverstone Avenue in Ventura, Calif., Monday, Jan. 8, 2018. The wet and windy system moving ashore could soak much of the state and drop several inches in parts of Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, where the biggest California blaze has burned for more than a month. (Anthony Plascencia/The Ventura County Star via AP)

Jeremy Felch, left, gets help from his neighbor Ralf Quint, in placing sandbags in front of his home on Spring Trail in Kagel Canyon, in preparation for expected heavy rain. (Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times via AP)

In this photo provided by Santa Barbara County Fire Department, firefighters successfully rescue a 14-year-old girl, right, after she was trapped for hours inside a destroyed home in Montecito, Calif., Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018. Multiple people were killed and homes were swept from their foundations as mud and debris from wildfire-scarred hillsides flowed through neighborhoods and onto a key Southern California highway Tuesday during a powerful winter storm that dropped record rain across the state. (Mike Eliason/Santa Barbara County Fire Department via AP)

In this photo provided by Santa Barbara County Fire Department, mud and debris flow on the roadway due to heavy rain in Montecito. Calif., Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018. Heavy rains pounding Southern California for a second day are causing floods and loosening hillsides as officials in fire-ravaged communities warn people to stay off roads over fears of mud and debris flows. (Mike Eliason/Santa Barbara County Fire Department via AP)

Northbound traffic comes to a standstill on Interstate 5 freeway near the rushing water filled Los Angeles river near downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2018. The first significant storm of the season walloped much of California with damaging winds and thunderstorms. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)

This undated photo provided by Michael Van Hecke shows Roy Rohter. Rohter was reported killed Monday, Jan. 8, 2018, as a result of flash flooding in Southern California. (Michael Van Hecke/AP)

Mitchell Barrett crosses mud from an overflown creek on Sheffield Drive in Montecito, Calif., following the heavy rain, Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018. Barrett was going to check on his parents' house in Montecito. (AP Photo/Michael Owen Baker)

Debris from a swollen creek blocks Via Real in Carpinteria, Calif., Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018. (AP Photo/Michael Owen Baker)

Members of the Long Beach Search and Rescue team head into a debris-soaked area of Montecito, Calif. to look for survivors on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018. Several homes were swept away before dawn Tuesday when mud and debris roared into neighborhoods in Montecito from hillsides stripped of vegetation during a recent wildfire. (AP Photo/Daniel Dreifuss)

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Christopher Weber The Associated Press

January 9, 2018 - 7:42 am

Updated January 9, 2018 - 5:06 pm

LOS ANGELES — In the dark of night, Thomas Tighe saw two vehicles slowly being swept away by a river of mud and debris flowing down the road in front of his house in Montecito, California. Daybreak brought a more jarring scene: a body pinned against his neighbor’s home by a wall of muck.

Tighe is CEO of Direct Relief, a Santa Barbara, California-based charitable organization that helps disaster victims. This time, the disaster was “literally in my backyard, and front yard,” he said by phone from Montecito, about 90 miles (145 kilometers) northwest of Los Angeles.

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The scene left Tighe shaken. His voice quivered and he paused several times as he described seeing the body, repeating several times it’s “just so devastating.”

At least 13 people were killed Tuesday as homes were swept away in the debris flow that formed as rain rushed off hills in Montecito left bare last month by the state’s largest-ever wildfire.

Those killed included Roy Rohter, a former real estate broker who founded St. Augustine Academy, a Catholic K-12 school in Ventura, Headmaster Michael Van Hecke told The Associated Press.

“Roy believed intensely in the power of a Catholic education,” Van Hecke said. “He’s been a deep supporter of the school in every way and a mentor to me personally, to the faculty and to the kids.”

Rohter’s wife, Theresa, was rescued by firefighters from their home and was taken to a hospital with several broken bones, Van Hecke said.

Last month the Rohters were among thousands forced from their home by the wildfire and spent a week living with Van Hecke and his family.

Tighe, whose charity provided breathing masks to residents during the fire, said he was outside his home around 3:30 a.m. checking downspouts when the rain intensified.

“I came around the house and heard a deep rumbling, an ominous sound that I knew was the boulders moving as the mud was rising,” he said.

Two of his cars that had been in the driveway already were swept away, and he saw two other vehicles drifting down the road.

With his street thick with rushing mud it was too late to heed the area’s voluntary evacuation advisory so he woke his wife and children and prepared to get them up to the roof.

“I tried not to panic them, but I panicked them,” Tighe said.

For the next three hours he and his neighbors did what they could to keep their houses from being inundated. When daylight came the devastation came into focus.

He watched in shock as rescuers plucked a family from their roof, where they had been huddled for several hours with a 3-month-old child. There were car-sized boulders and chunks of buildings on the street.

Tighe and his family trudged through thigh-deep mud to his sister’s nearby house. Just one street away, it was a dramatically different scene. No debris, just puddles.

“Everything was fine,” Tighe said.