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Photos Capture Brutal Devastation Of California Mudslides

'It looked like a World War I battlefield'.

Streets turned to seething rivers. Buildings inundated with debris. The mangled frames of abandoned cars, drenched in mud.

As Southern California takes on the heavy burden of cleaning up from what’s become a one-two punch of devastating wildfires followed by heavy rains that caused deadly mudslides, this is some of the detritus left behind.

In addition to the physical damage, the floods have taken a human toll as well. Santa Barbara County officials said Wednesday at least 15 people are dead and 20 injured thanks to the onslaught of mud and water.

“The only words I can really think of to describe what it looked [like] was it looked like a World War I battlefield,” Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said Tuesday. “It was literally a carpet of mud and debris everywhere.”

Here are some photos from the region:

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