The death toll early Thursday rose to 17, and another 17 were still missing around the town of Montecito where hundreds of people are still surrounded by more than a foot of mud.

Since Tuesday, hundreds of emergency workers, friends and family, have been trudging through mud looking for people amidst the destruction.

Josie Gower's daughter Hayden, is among the missing.

"Why did she go downstairs?" exclaimed the distraught father as he searched through the remains of his ruined home.

Helen Murdoch, a resident of Santa Barbara, described the damage done by the mudslides this way: "I would say it's apocalyptic."

A reporter for NBC News captured these unbelievable scenes of devastation in Montecito.

Robert Ruskin has been searching for his mom for over 48 hours.

"You know, it's my mom and I'm fighting with all my heart to find her but I can't focus too much on, she's most likely dead out here, you know, and just push my way through," an emotional Ruskin told reporters.

The mud and debris buried hundreds of homes so deep that in some places, only the chimneys are visible.

Oprah Winfrey posted a video to her Instagram page showing the level of damage around her home.

"This is how deep the mud is," Winfrey can be heard saying on the video.

"My neighbor's house is devastated," she added.

Ellen DeGeneres tweeted this dramatic image of the 101-freeway close to her home. (Image: Aerial view of mudslides/Twitter-Ellen DeGeneres)

The flash-floods struck in the early morning hours Tuesday. Marco Farrell captured the frightening moment on video.

"We sheltered in place in a hallway towards the back of the house," Farrell described.

A huge amount of rain fell in a matter of minutes on hills and mountain slopes scorched by last month's massive California wildfire.

There was nothing left on the land to stop the wall of water as new video shows the mudslides power and speed.

".86 of an inch in 15 minutes is an unprecedented rainfall on any ground surface, much less a fire-burned watershed," Tom Fayram, a Santa Barbara County official told reporters.

At least 400 homes have been damaged or destroyed.

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