Mudslides effect many areas on California

     Many Californians were hit hard by mudslides in the last week. After over 300,000

acres of California’s land were destroyed in wild fires, five inches of rain fell, causing slick mudslides.

     Mudslides can happen without warning and are deadly. According to the Santa

Barbara County Sheriff’s Office, at least fifteen people have been killed from these recent

mudslides. “This is a tragic event that happened in our country. I wish things like this could be prevented,” says Ethan Miller.

     California residents did not receive wireless emergency alerts to evacuate until minutes

before the first mudslide occurred. Wireless emergency alerts are cellphone messages sent to

everyone in a region, like the Amber alerts that are sent to cellphone users in specific areas

when authorities are trying to find a missing child.

     The alerts sent by Santa Barbara County officials went out around 3:50 a.m. on Tuesday.

This occurred after the first mudslide that started at 3:30 a.m. Officials from that area said

they didn’t want residents to take the alerts as a joke, and that’s why the texts weren’t sent ahead of the disaster. “I personally think that this is ridiculous and extremely unsafe for the residents of that area. County officials should be required to send out alerts as soon as they know something is going to happen,” says Brie Hoffman.

     Over 400 homes were damaged and destroyed and many residents had to be rescued since they did not have time to evacuate. Even though alerts were sent out to residents of Montecito to evacuate, many of those residents decided to stick the mudslides and storms out to try and protect their beloved homes. “I can agree with why some decided to stay and protect their homes. People work hard for what they have!” says Hope Donahue.