At least 13 dead as heavy rains trigger flooding, mudflows and freeway closures across Southern California
January 10, 2018 by admin
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At least 13 people were killed Tuesday when a rainstorm sent mud and debris coursing through Montecito neighborhoods and left rescue crews to scramble through clogged roadways and downed trees to search for victims.
The deluge that washed over Santa Barbara County early Tuesday was devastating for a community that was ravaged by the Thomas fire only a few weeks earlier. In just a matter of minutes, pounding rain overwhelmed the south-facing slopes above Montecito and flooded a creek that leads to the ocean, sending mud and massive boulders rolling into residential neighborhoods, according to Santa Barbara County Fire Department spokesman Mike Eliason.
At least 25 other people were injured, authorities said at an afternoon press conference. Crews rescued 50 people by air and dozens more from the ground.
“It’s going to be worse than anyone imagined for our area,” Eliason said in a phone interview Tuesday. “Following our fire, this is the worst-case scenario.”
The deaths came after a heavy band of rain struck around 2:30 a.m., causing “waist-high” mudflows, Eliason said.
The mudslide struck a section of the city that is south of the Thomas fire’s burn area and was not subject to a mandatory evacuation, Eliason said. Rescue personnel have yet to even make it north of Highway 192, which is closer to soil scorched by last month’s wildfire. Burned areas are less capable of absorbing water, making them even more susceptible to flooding and mudslides.
Officials had no estimate on how many people could be trapped or how many homes were damaged. The search for survivors was still underway Tuesday afternoon, with many places inaccessible.
Stationed in Hawaii for the Navy, Tyler McManigal, 28, was notified Tuesday that his father and brother were swept away by flooding in Montecito.
In a phone interview, he said he knew very little else about what happened.
McManigal said when the flash flood and mud flow began, his 64-year-old father, John, woke up and rushed over to wake up his brother, Connor, 23. The pair were unable to make it out of their home in the 300 block of Hot Springs Road, just north of Olive Mill Road.
The torrent of brown liquid mixed with branches, rocks, boulders and other debris carried away the family home — along with McManigal’s brother and father.
“They found my brother probably three-quarters of a mile away, south of where the house is, on the 101 Freeway,” he said, adding that Connor was taken to a local hospital.
“My brother is OK,” he said.
But his father, who has six children, is yet to be found, said McManigal, who is trying to get back home.
The founder of St. Augustine Academy in Ventura was among those killed early Tuesday when a powerful mudslide swept him and his wife from their Montecito home.
Roy Rohter was identified by officials at Thomas Aquinas College, from which his daughter graduated in 2000. His wife, Theresa, was rescued and is in stable condition, officials said.
Friends remembered Rohter as an energetic leader and generous benefactor of the college.
“Roy Rohter was a man of strong faith and a great friend of Catholic education,” Michael F. McLean, president of the college, said in a statement posted on the school’s website. “He played a pivotal role in the lives of countless young Catholic students — students who came to a deeper knowledge and love of Christ because of his vision, commitment and generosity.”
Michael Van Hecke, headmaster of St. Augustine, said in a statement that Rohter “has done so much for so many people and pro-life and Catholic education causes. … Thousands have been blessed by the Rohters’ friendship and generosity.”
Emergency crews spent the first hours of light making rescues in voluntary evacuation zones near Montecito Creek north of U.S. 101.
In the 300 block of Hot Springs Road, crews rescued six people and a dog after four homes were destroyed. The mud lifted one home off of its foundation and carried it into trees, where it then collapsed, Eliason said. Firefighters used the jaws of life to cut their way into the home where a firefighter heard muffled cries for help from a 14-year-old girl, Eliason said.
A rescue dog pinpointed the girl’s location and two hours later, the mud-covered girl was pulled free. A second 14-year-old girl was also rescued from the same neighborhood and carried from ankle-high mud in a basket by half a dozen firefighters.
The U.S. Coast Guard also sent rescue helicopters into the area Tuesday morning, hoisting several people from collapsed homes or rooftops that stood above swirling mud and water. Rescue personnel were also able to save a young boy who was swept more than half a mile south from his house after the building was lifted from its foundation in Montecito, authorities said.
The boy was found alive under a U.S. 101 overpass, authorities said. But his father remains unaccounted for.
On Hot Springs Road on Tuesday afternoon, a dozen sheriff’s deputies carried a body on a gurney from a collapsed house as muddy water raced down the street. The deputies surrounded the body in silence for several moments before placing it gently into an emergency vehicle.
According to the National Weather Service in Los Angeles, the highest preliminary rainfall total appeared to register at roughly 5 inches in a gauge north of Ojai in Ventura County, in the burn area of the Thomas fire, which forced evacuations and destroyed homes last month. With heavy showers still forecast, flash flood warnings remained in effect for Santa Barbara County and southern Ventura County through Tuesday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service.
The 101 Freeway was shut down in both directions for more than 30 miles in the Thomas fire burn area because of flooding and debris flow, spanning an area from Santa Barbara to Ventura, according to the California Highway Patrol. Sections of routes 33 and 150 were also closed in Ventura County, according to the Sheriff’s Department. There was no estimate for when the roadways might reopen, a California Department of Transportation spokesman said Tuesday afternoon.
In Los Angeles, one person was killed when a big rig overturned in the northbound lanes of the 5 Freeway near Los Feliz, said Saul Gomez, public information officer for the California Highway Patrol’s Southern Division. All northbound lanes were closed as of 4 a.m., though Gomez said police were hoping to reopen the roadway by 8 a.m.
The victim, who was not identified, was approximately 60 years old, Gomez said. No one else was injured. While the accident happened as rain fell across Los Angeles County, Gomez said he could not confirm the crash was storm-related.
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Dems roil probe with release of Fusion GPS transcript
January 10, 2018 by admin
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Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee in August that law enforcement officials had already been investigating President TrumpDonald John TrumpHouse Democrat slams Donald Trump Jr. for ‘serious case of amnesia’ after testimony Skier Lindsey Vonn: I don’t want to represent Trump at Olympics Poll: 4 in 10 Republicans think senior Trump advisers had improper dealings with Russia MORE’s team for Russia connections before the “Steele dossier” was completed.
Simpson, whose opposition research firm compiled the controversial dossier, pushed back in his testimony on the idea that Fusion GPS produced a phony document, telling the panel behind closed doors that the document’s author, a former MI6 spy named Christopher Steele, told him that, by September, the FBI already had “other intelligence” backing up claims in the dossier.
“It’s political rhetoric to call the dossier phony. … We can argue about what’s prudent and what’s not, but it’s not a fabrication,” Simpson told the panel.
Sen. Dianne FeinsteinDianne Emiel FeinsteinGrassley blasts Democrats over unwillingness to probe Clinton Avalanche of Democratic senators say Franken should resign Blumenthal: ‘Credible case’ of obstruction of justice can be made against Trump MORE (Calif.), the top Democrat on the Judiciary panel, on Tuesday unilaterally released Simpson’s more than 300 pages of testimony to the committee in a startling move that comes amid an escalating partisan fight over the FBI’s Russia investigation.
Some Republicans, at times echoed by Trump, have mounted a public campaign questioning the FBI’s handling of the Russia investigation. They have suggested the FBI used the dossier, described by then-FBI Director James ComeyJames Brien ComeyTrump: Dershowitz interview on ‘witch hunt’ a ‘must watch’ Comey after Trump tweet: FBI is honest, strong, independent Former ethics director: Trump’s tweet on Flynn would have ended past administrations MORE as “salacious and unverified,” as the predicate for a baseless investigation.Simpson’s testimony calls into question that narrative, pushing back at the notion that the dossier was a partisan hit-job funded by Democrats. Its release infuriated Judiciary Chairman Chuck GrassleyCharles (Chuck) Ernest GrassleyGrassley blasts Democrats over unwillingness to probe Clinton GOP and Dems bitterly divided by immigration Thanks to the farm lobby, the US is stuck with a broken ethanol policy MORE (R-Iowa), who called Feinstein’s actions “confounding.”
According to Simpson, who had called on Grassley to release the transcript, Steele was so concerned by the possibility that a presidential candidate might be “blackmailed” by Russia that he reached out to the FBI of his own accord to share what he knew as a “security issue.”
Simpson in his testimony mounted a full-throated defense of the dossier work, denying it was paid for by Russia and insisting that the firm was mostly interested in Trump’s business dealings until Steele brought back “something very different.”
He told investigators that Steele told him the FBI had an informant in the Trump campaign. A source close to Fusion GPS told The Hill on Tuesday that Simpson misspoke, mischaracterizing a tip that an Australian diplomat gave the bureau related to Trump campaign aide George PapadopoulosGeorge Demetrios PapadopoulosMueller team questions how much Trump knew on Russia contacts: report Papadopoulos lied to FBI out of loyalty to Trump: report White House was not aware Clovis testified before grand jury: report MORE.
According to Simpson, Steele first met with the FBI in the first week of July 2016. He then met with an agent in Rome that fall, a trip the bureau reimbursed. The bureau launched its investigation into the Trump campaign in late July.
During that same month, according to The New York Times, a representative of Australia’s government told the bureau that, during a night of drinking, Papadopoulos told him Russia had political dirt on Trump’s campaign rival Hillary ClintonHillary Diane Rodham ClintonGrassley blasts Democrats over unwillingness to probe Clinton GOP lawmakers cite new allegations of political bias in FBI Top intel Dem: Trump Jr. refused to answer questions about Trump Tower discussions with father MORE.
Papadopoulos has since pleaded guilty to charges of making false statements to the FBI.
“Essentially what [Steele] told me was they had other intelligence about this matter from an internal Trump campaign source and that … my understanding was that they believed Chris at this point — that they believed Chris’s information might be credible because they had other intelligence that indicated the same thing and one of those pieces of intelligence was a human source from inside the Trump organization,” Simpson said of a meeting Steele had with a bureau agent in September.
Simpson has said previously he does not believe the dossier was the basis for the FBI investigation.
The Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee funded the project in 2016, when Steele began his work. Prior to that, the conservative Washington Free Beacon paid Fusion to do background research on Trump and his business empire.
“I was a journalist for most of my adult life and a professional at not taking sides,” Simpson said. “I’m happy and proud to say I have lots of Republican clients and friends and I have lots of Democratic clients and friends. … I know a lot of people on both sides and we have a long, proud history of not being partisan.”
Simpson would not reveal any of Steele’s sources, saying that they would potentially face physical harm if word got out.
“People who get in the way of the Russians tend to get hurt,” Simpson said. Shortly thereafter, his lawyer testified that “somebody’s already been killed as a result of the publication of this dossier,” without offering details.
Many Democrats insist that key details in the dossier have been confirmed, such as a trip that former Trump adviser Carter Page took to Moscow in 2016. Skeptics of the dossier say the only aspects that have been confirmed are those that were already publicly available and there is no evidence to support the core claims of collusion and corruption in the dossier.
Simpson defended the veracity of Steele’s findings — as well as the credibility of the former MI6 agent himself, whose reputation he called “sterling.”
“Chris had delivered a lot of information and by this time we had stood up a good bit of it,” Simpson said. “Various things he had written about in his memos corresponded quite closely with other events and I began … to view his reporting in this case as … really serious and really credible.”
Still, Simpson acknowledged there is potential for errors and misinterpretation in Steele’s line of work. The dossier, he argued, is not a unified, systematically organized single document, but rather a “collection of field interviews.”
“When you evaluate human intelligence, human reporting, field reporting, source reporting, it’s sort of like when you’re a journalist and you’re trying to figure out who’s telling the truth,” Simpson said.
“You don’t really decide who’s telling the truth. You decide whether the person is credible, whether they know what they’re talking about, whether there’s other reasons to believe what they’re talking about, whether there’s other reasons to believe what they’re saying, whether anything they’ve said factually matches up with something in public record,” he said.
The release of the transcript comes as the political fight over the dossier has hit a fever pitch on Capitol Hill. Last week, Grassley and Sen. Lindsey GrahamLindsey Olin GrahamGOP and Dems bitterly divided by immigration We are running out of time to protect Dreamers US trade deficit rises on record imports from China MORE (R-S.C.) asked the Department of Justice to open a criminal investigation into Steele, with Graham accusing the former spy of “shopping this dossier all over the world” while acting as an informant for the FBI.
The referral appears to suggest Steele may have misled the FBI. It cites a law prohibiting individuals from lying to federal authorities, asking the Justice Department to probe whether Steele made false statements about “the distribution of claims from the dossier.”
Simpson acknowledged in his testimony that he had Steele brief a small group of reporters on his findings. The briefings took place before the election and after Steele had first reached out to the FBI.
But according to Simpson, Steele cut off his contact with the bureau after the Times ran a story just two weeks before the election stating that the FBI had investigated alleged ties between the Trump campaign and Russia but found no clear link. The former spy was concerned “the FBI was being manipulated for political ends by the Trump people and that we didn’t really understand what was going on.”
“So he stopped dealing with them,” Simpson said.