Family of five rescued from home following California mudslides

A family of five have been rescued from their home following devastating mudslides in California.

The family of two adults, a seven-year-old boy, a three-year-old girl, and a baby were rescued from the debris of their home earlier today. Heavy rain in Santa Barbara County last night led to severe mudslides travelling down hillsides, destroying properties, and restricting travel. 13 people have been confirmed dead as a result of the mudslides. https://twitter.com/fox5sandiego/status/950972134435708928 Fox5 reports that the family of five, from the coastal city of Carpinteria, were among the dozens who had to be rescued by the coast guard and other emergency service workers. Rescuer Erin Custer told the station:

"The first floor of their house was about three, four feet of mud, so they were having to wade through. "We then didn't decide to put the basket down in the mud just because we didn't know what was underneath the mud. "So we decided to hoist them from the roof, but we did have to pull them from the roof in order to hoist them up to the helicopter."

A 14-year-old girl was also rescued from the mud after being trapped for hours. https://twitter.com/APWestRegion/status/950811514725896195 Authorities have said that "dozens" of people are missing following the storm. Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said that emergency services are now "... focused on determining if anyone is still alive in any of those structures that have been damaged." Many have taken to social media to document the devastating effects of the mudslides. https://twitter.com/VCAirUnit/status/950838547275169792 https://twitter.com/caffeineben/status/950863312920588288 Oprah also shared a video of herself walking through the mud after her home in California suffered the effects of the storm. https://twitter.com/NBCNews/status/951070052161347584