California mudslides kill 17, dozens lost

Rescue crews with dogs and scanners are digging through waist-deep mud in an affluent stretch of southern California's coast, searching for 13 people still missing after mudslides that killed at least 17.

Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown told reporters that the death toll had risen to 17 after two more bodies were found on Wednesday.

"There are still 13 reported missing persons cases," Brown said.

The mudslides, triggered by a downpour on Tuesday, also destroyed 100 single-family homes, damaged hundreds of other buildings and injured 28 people, said Amber Anderson, a spokeswoman for the Santa Barbara County Fire Department.

Historic hotels and homes of celebrities including Oprah Winfrey were also hit by the walls of mud that roared through valleys sandwiched between the Pacific Ocean and the sprawling Los Padres National Forest, which draw the wealthy and the well-known with their natural beauty and proximity to sprawling Los Angeles.