“It Looked Like A Battlefield” – Photos Show California Mudslides’ Devastating Aftermath

This report was originally published by Tyler Durden at Zero Hedge

California just can’t catch a break.

After wildfires – including the largest blaze in California history – tore through Southern California last month, causing billions of dollars in property damage, heavy rains triggered mudslides in some of the areas hardest-hit by the fires – including Montecito in Santa Barbara county, where the most deaths were reported.

The storm may be over, but the hunt for survivors isn’t. So far, 13 people have been confirmed dead, while 25 more were injured and another 50 had to be rescued. But those numbers could rise as the search is deepened and expanded Wednesday, with a major search-and-rescue team arriving from nearby Los Angeles County and help from the Coast Guard and National Guard along with law enforcement, according to the Associated Press.

And as the search for victims ramps up, more photos over the devastation wrought by the mudslides are beginning to emerge.

The mudslides took thousands of Californians by surprise.It was unleashed in the dead of night by flash flooding in the steep, fire-scarred Santa Ynez Mountains. As the AP explains, scorched areas are especially susceptible to destructive mudslides because the earth doesn’t absorb water well and the land is easily eroded when there’s no vegetation.

Montecito was burned by the Thomas Fire, which erupted Dec. 4 and became the largest ever recorded in California. It eventually spread to more than 440 square miles (1,140 square kilometers) and destroyed 1,063 buildings and homes. It continues to burn deep in the wilderness.

Some witnesses likened the sound of the mud to a freight train or an earthquake as the torrent arrived suddenly, carrying rocks and trees as it washed away cars and trashed homes.

Video shows rescue workers saving a man whose car was washed away in the mudslides.

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Thomas Tighe said he stepped outside his Montecito home in the middle of the night and heard “a deep rumbling, an ominous sound I knew was … boulders moving as the mud was rising.”

Rescue personnel in Santa Barbara County early on Wednesday morning continued searching for victims where mudslides slammed into homes, covered highways and swept away vehicles early on Tuesday when more than a half-inch (1.5 cm) of rain fell in five minutes, a rate that far exceeds the normal flash flood threshold.

Video and images of the 101 Freeway showed the road completely covered in mud. The road between Montecito and Santa Barbara will remain closed for at least 48 hours, according to Capt. Cindy Pontes of the California Highway Patrol.

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Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown told CNN that the mudslides “looked like a World War I battlefield.”

“It was literally a carpet of mud and debris everywhere, with huge boulders, rocks, downed trees, power lines, wrecked cars, lots of obstacles and challenges for rescue personnel to get to homes, let alone to get people out of them,” Brown said. More than 500 firefighters were assisting with the rescue effort in Santa Barbara alone.

In Burbank, a dozen firefighters sheltered in place after being trapped by mud and debris in Burbank.

But as the storm passed Wednesday morning, a rainbow appeared over Santa Barbara County…

…Proving once again that mother nature does have a sense of humor.

Cops Trying to Kill a Dog, Kill Innocent Boy Who Tried to Save It Instead

Los Angeles, CA — Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies opened fire on a biting dog after responding to a call of a teen house party early Thursday morning — but a bullet ricocheted and killed a 17-year-old boy, who was trying to save the dog from gunfire.

Reports say the sheriff’s department received calls about the party and arrived on scene at an apartment complex around 3:47 a.m., local time; but a pit bull sprinted from inside the residence — biting one of the responding deputies on the leg.

Officers restrained the animal — but it broke from their grips.

Armando Garcia, in the meantime, attempted to bring the dog under control, when police unleashed a hail of bullets against the offending animal — one round allegedly grazed the pavement and ricocheted upward — killing the teenager who only wanted to protect the animal.

“We believe that when the individual came out from behind the building, which was approximately 40 feet away from where the shooting occurred, he may have been struck by one of the skip rounds. And it is what we’re calling an extremely, extremely unfortunate incident,” asserted Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Captain Chris Bergner in a press conference Thursday.

Unfortunate in that the teen had been trying to do what the deputies apparently couldn’t — get the dog under control. And, after being rushed to the hospital, Garcia lost his life for the effort.

“My nephew was trying to save the dog because the cops started shooting at the dog,” Amber Alcantar, Garcia’s aunt, told CBS Los Angeles. “He put his life on the line for an animal that wasn’t even his.”

ABC 7 reports:

“Deputies at the scene said they initially responded to a report of loud music at a party. As they were conducting an investigation, a 60 to 65 pound pit bull ‘aggressively charged’ at deputies and bit one of them on his left knee. The deputy was not seriously injured.”

Officers then restrained the animal, but it broke loose — authorities say it charged at the deputies — two of whom then fired at the animal from a distance of just five seven feet. According to reports, the pit bull ran to a carport area behind the apartment complex, with deputies in pursuit — determined to hold the animal in a confined space to prevent any other attacks on bystanders.

“When they got to the carport area, deputies found the teen on the ground suffering from a gunshot wound to the chest,” ABC 7 notes.

Bergner also said the deputy relatively uninjured by the initial dog bite to the left knee was also treated for a gunshot wound from a ricocheting bullet to the right knee.

“This is an extremely, extremely unfortunate incident,” Bergner continued. “The bullet hit the apron of the driveway, traveled about 30 to 40 feet back, and potentially hit this individual who was coming around the corner.”

Of course, the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department has not made clear why spraying a dog with enough rounds to incidentally kill a teenager and wound an officer would have been a wise choice in an apartment complex, where — even given the pre-dawn hour of their arrival — shooting rather indiscriminately at an animal would seem feckless, at best.

Ill-fated, in the case of Armando Garcia — who lost his life to gunfire for trying to protect an animal from the cops.

The pit bull will be euthanized.

READ MORE:  Inform Yourself Ahead of Time: How do I report police misconduct?

Neighbors told the media pit bulls are particularly common in the area, but the unnamed owner of the dog in question described the animal as “a big dog with a baby’s mind” — and it would never have meant any harm.

“Mando is a good kid,” lamented Garcia’s mother, Roberta Alcantar, of the teen who tried to save an animal from officer gunfire. “He did not deserve to die the way he died. I’m going to get to the bottom of it and it’s going to get handled.”

Armando Garcia will join a shamefully lengthy list of individuals who obviously know and love animals better than police — who should be trained to de-escalate animal situations, no matter the circumstances, given they encounter dogs and cats routinely — but who have had their lives cut short by frightened cops.

It seems the modus operandi for police in the U.S. is to shoot first, say something about being scared for life and limb, and don’t bother asking questions later.

And now another human being had his life untimely snuffed — unironically — for trying to protect a beloved dog, that wasn’t even his, from the police.

This is what it’s like to be an animal lover in a police state.

Billionaire Slashes Asking Price For Beverly Hills Mega- Mansion By A Third, Or $66 Million

Two weeks ago, we showed readers an example of just how sharp the drop in the high-end housing segment has been in Manhattan, courtesy of J. Crew CEO Mickey Drexler, who had slashed a whopping $15 million, or 40%, from the asking price of his Tribeca loft after it languished on the market for close to two years, unable to find a buyer. The 6,226-square-foot spread had recently reappeared for sale with a $19.95 million price tag, far below the original $35 million it was first listed for in April 2015.

It has yet to sell.

However, contrary to speculation that this sharp plunge in prices and demand for luxury real estate was solely a New York phenomenon, Mansion Global writes that billionaire Jeff Greene has put his Beverly Hills home “Palazzo di Amore” back on the market last Friday, asking  $129 million. This amounts to a $20 million cut from when the home was last listed two years ago, and a whopping third, or $66 million, discount off the original price of $195 million in 2014.

When the 25-acre property first hit the market in 2014 for $195 million, it became the most expensive home for sale in the U.S., according to public records. It also top-ticked the market, and as the latest price confirms, was overvalued by at least a third.

According to Mansion, Greene, 62, a real estate investor with an estimated net worth of $3.4 billion, married Mei Sze Chan, in 2007 at the Mediterranean-style villa, named “Palazzo di Amore,” Italian for “Palace of Love.” They listed the property in 2014 and then again in 2015, with a $49 million price chop in between. After failing to find a buyer, they removed the house from the market and offered it as a rental for $375,000 a month, according to the listing history.

“We tested the market in 2014, asking $195 million for this unique property, but now it’s a better time to come on the market,” said Stacy Gottula, director of the Estates Division at The Agency, who is co-listing the property with the firm’s founder, Mauricio Umansky.

Ms. Gottula noted that there were three big-ticket sales in Los Angeles in 2016. Hugh Hefner’s Playboy Mansion was bought by Daren Metropoulos, the son of billionaire investor C. Dean Metropoulos, for $100 million. The price record was matched by a Holmby Hills property, purchased by Platinum Equity founder and Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores.  A slightly less expensive property, Owlwood Estate, sold for $90 million.

Besides, Los Angeles currently boasts the most expensive home in the U.S., according to Realtor.com. A mega-mansion developed by luxury developer Bruce Makowsky was listed at $250 million in January.

“We are actually seeing buyers in this price range now,” Ms. Gottula said. She said that Mr. Greene, who is not spending a lot of time in Los Angeles, is also more motivated to sell.

Judging by the collapse in the ultra-high end market, some would be tempted to call out "fake news" on Ms. Gotulla.

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So what does $129 million buy? To begin with, it is one of the largest residential compounds in Los Angeles, built by developer Mohamed Hadid.

There are a total of six structures on the premises. The 43,000-square-foot main residence features 12 bedrooms, 23 bathrooms and “rooms too numerous to name,” according to the listing. Outdoors, there is a pool, a spa, a barbecue station, a tennis court with a tennis pavilion and a full guest house, all divided by manicured gardens and fountains.

The 15,000-square-foot entertainment complex includes a state-of-the-art DJ booth with a revolving dance floor and laser-light system, a two-lane bowling alley, game room, and a movie theater that seats more than 50 guests.

A vineyard on the property produces about 400 to 500 cases of wine each year for Mr. Greene’s private collection. He has two wine cellars that store up to 13,000 bottles.

“This is no other grand-scale property overlooking city lights in Los Angeles,” Ms. Gottula added, noting that the property is still available for rent at $375,000 a month. And if you dial in the next 10 minutes, she will even take off another $1,000 from the price.