Hi Ellen, I'm here in our neighborhood in Montecito
to give you a sense, and your viewers
a sense of what this community is up against now,
and in the foreseeable future.
Let's go talk to some folks and have a look around.
It's unbelievable, isn't it?
Highway 101, can you believe that's a highway?
There the people's belongings just everywhere.
Look at how high it was.
You would never imagine.
I know.
No.
Never.
That's the thing, that there's a river right here.
We're probably a mile and a half from the foot of the mountains,
and this still had that power.
It's like Hurricane Katrina where you just
can see into people's lives, they had no time to move.
Look at the garage, it's just filled.
[MELANCHOLY MUSIC]
Well, Ellen, this is our beloved San Isidro Ranch,
and you can see that there's very little left of it.
Another beautiful part of our community that's
going to have to be rebuilt. So, here's
the normal creek right here, meanwhile, it
jumped into the banks way before this turn and all of this,
as far as you can see, was a river of mud and debris
before it even got to this.
And they just kept on plowing all the way down.
The force, huh?
The streets were lined with these, hundreds of them.
Hundreds?
Hundreds, I'm not kidding you.
Nope, not exaggerating.
I mean, you have no idea whether these were parked
or people were in them.
You just don't know.
You don't know.
Don't know.
You don't know.
We heard nothing, we saw nothing.
We wondered what all commotion was.
And then we came down here that Tuesday.
And to this devastation and loss.
We've lost friends, we've lost neighbors.
Do you see this house, right here the wood house?
Yeah.
There like 1, 2, 3, 4, and 1, 2.
These are the oldest structures in Montecito,
some of the oldest remaining structures.
They were the original like orange grove workers.
I'm certain that some of these buildings
are way over 100 years old.
This was a house right here there's
absolutely nothing left, absolutely nothing.
We're great.
Good.
We're great, thank you.
Good, good.
How are you and your--
Well, we're OK, but I don't think
anybody can be OK after taking a look at this.
I don't even recognize it, do you?
I would have no idea where this is
and I used to love this road all the time.
It's six inches of moving water can sweep you away,
isn't that what it is?
Yeah.
Six inches.
Twelve inches for a car, 24 for a pick up truck.
Twelve inches of moving water will move a car away.
Yeah.
So, you know the Thai family?
Yes.
The father died, their grandmother
she kept saying, he's going to be under a big tree,
he's going to be under a big tree.
And I go, why do you say that?
She goes, he would always have dreams
that he was under a tree.
They found the father, he was about eight feet
under just a clump of giant trees.
I've been doing this for 30 plus years,
I've seen horrible things in my job.
Yesterday was the hardest day of my life.
I honestly have to say it was the hardest day in my life.
We were called out by Cal Fire, we're
with Hope Animal-Assisted Crisis Response.
So, they're specially trained to support the first responders.
It is true that it's hard to feel bad around a dog.
It is.
Well, hopefully you all were able to get a good sense
of the story of Montecito.
It's a beautiful town, it's a strong town.
And with all of your help out there we'll be back.