Seventeen of the 21 Montecito residents who perished in the January 9 mudslides lived in an evacuation warning area, not a mandatory evacuation zone. The two people who remain missing and feared dead ― 17-year-old Jack Cantin and 2-year-old Lydia Sutthithepa ― also lived in the warning area. Only four victims lived in the mandatory zone.
The east-west line of Highway 192 bisected the community into two distinct emergency notice regions, with evacuation orders issued north of the boundary and warning notices made below the highway. The 7,000 residents in the mandatory zone were told Sunday, January 7, two days before the storm hit, to leave their homes immediately. Sheriff’s deputies went door-to-door Monday to repeat the order.
By contrast, the 23,000 people in the warning area were advised to pack their bags and load their cars, and be ready to flee at a moment’s notice. But by the time emergency alerts went out on the night of the storm ― one at 2:46 a.m. targeting Montecito residents registered with the county’s Aware & Prepare program, and another at 3:51 a.m. to all county residents ― it was too late for many to escape the trains of mud and rock that came crashing through their neighborhoods.