Southern California mudslide leaves at least 15 dead

• Latest: Deadly mudslide ‘like Niagara falls’ as hills turn to rivers of debris
  
• Firefighters rescued 14-year-old girl as mud reported up to 5ft deep
  
• Mud and boulders slid down hills stripped of vegetation by recent wildfires
  

At least 15 people were killed and homes were swept from their foundations on Tuesday as heavy rain sent mud and boulders sliding down hills stripped of vegetation by southern California’s recent wildfires.

Rescue crews used helicopters to lift people to safety because of blocked roads, and firefighters slogged through waist-high mud to pull a muck-covered 14-year-old girl out of the ruins of a home in Montecito, north-west of Los Angeles, where she had been trapped for hours. She was taken away on a stretcher.