The death toll from devastating mudslides unleashed by a ferocious storm in southern California rose to 15 Wednesday as rescuers scoured the debris of demolished homes for survivors and bodies. A rainstorm sent rivers of waist-high mud and debris flowing from the hills into the affluent Santa Barbara County community of Montecito early Tuesday - ravaging swaths of land scorched by the Thomas fire last month. Floodwater overwhelmed the south-facing slopes above the town of 9,000, northwest of Los Angeles, bursting the banks of a creek and sending massive rocks rolling into homes, according to emergency services.

"The sheriff's office can confirm 15 fatalities but is not able to provide additional details at this time," a spokesman for the county department said on its Twitter feed. At least 25 other people were injured, authorities said, while first responders were able to airlift around 50 residents and rescue dozens more from the ground.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2018