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The death toll wrought by storms and flooding in southern California continues to rise, with officials reporting late Wednesday that they'd found the bodies of two more mudslide victims. The total currently stands at 17 people dead, Sputnik reported.
According to Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown, another 13 people are still missing, as mudslides continue to wreak havoc in the Golden State.
As of early Wednesday, 300 people were trapped by debris blocking their way out of Montecito's Romero Canyon area.
"We can't get to them, and they can't get to us," Yaneris Muniz, spokesperson for Santa Barbara County, said in a statement. Authorities have deployed helicopters to reach stranded residents.
The mudslides came weeks after the Thomas and La Tuna fires ravaged California's communities, prompting "dozens and dozens" of rescues, ABC News reported.
The mudslides began around 2:30 a.m. local time on Tuesday after the region was hit with heavy rains, which dislodged boulders and set off a heavy mudflow, the LA Times reported.
On Tuesday, Brown told reporters that the scenes "looked like a World War I battlefield."