Man describes his harrowing rescue of young child in California mudslides
A man has described the moment he and a firefighter rescued a baby trapped in a mudslide that destroyed his own home in California.
Berkeley Johnson and his wife Karen were inside their home at 3am on Tuesday morning when a mudslide came crashing down though his street in Montecito, north west of Los Angeles.
"I heard the rumbling of the rocks and I looked up and the river and the trees were coming down like 'choom, choom, choom'," an emotional Mr Johnson told NBC.
He ran into the house until the flooding had subsided before he and his wife climbed onto the roof of their home to survey the damage.
"It just took everything out," he said.
Mr Johnson said he and team of firefighters who arrived on the scene started searching for others.
"We were worried about our neighbours' house and we went over to see if they were okay and we heard a little baby crying.
"A fireman came over and we dug down and found a little baby and (we) don't know where it came from.
"We got it out, got the mud out of its mouth - I'm hoping it's okay."But it was just a baby, four feet down in the mud, in nowhere, under the rocks.
"I'm glad we got it."
The Santa Barbara Independent reports the two-year-old girl suffered an injury to her hip but is expected to make a full recovery.
The mudslides, caused by flash flooding, have claimed at least 15 lives and left whole streets destroyed.
Santa Barbara County spokeswoman Yaneris Muniz confirmed at least 25 people had been injured, four critically, and at least 50 having to be rescued by helicopters.
Around 300 people are said to be stranded in Romero Canyon neighbourhood east of Santa Barbara.
Rescue workers are frantically searching for survivors and trying to reach new areas but local officials have warned that death toll is expected to rise.
Last month’s wildfires - the largest in California history - left the area susceptible to mudslides.
The fires burned away grass and shrubs that keep the soil in place.