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Death Toll Increases To 18 In Santa Barbara County Flooding; Five People Now Considered Missing

One of the more than 400 homes destroyed or damaged by flooding in Santa Barbara County Tuesday

Officials are saying Friday that they’ve found the body of an 18th person who died in Tuesday’s flash flooding in Montecito.

87 year old Joseph Bleckel was among the missing, and is now being confirmed as one of the dead. The number of those still missing remains at five people.

More than 1200 people are now involved in search and rescue efforts in Santa Barbara County, trying to find those still missing.

Lance Orozco has been News Director of KCLU since 2001, providing award-winning coverage of some of the biggest news events in the region, including the Thomas and Woolsey brush fires, the deadly Montecito debris flow, the Borderline Bar and Grill attack, and Ronald Reagan's funeral.