The oldest victim swept away in a California mudslide was Jim Mitchell, who had celebrated his 89th birthday the day before. He died with his wife of more than 50 years, Alice.
The youngest, 3-year-old Kailly Benitez, was one of four children killed.
As their names and those of 14 other victims were released Thursday, crews kept digging through the muck and rubble looking for more people.
The number of reported deaths from the mudslide has reached 17.
“At this moment, we are still looking for live victims,” Santa Barbara fire Capt. Gary Pitney said. But he confessed: “The likelihood is increasing that we’ll be finding bodies, not survivors. You have to start accepting the reality of that.”
The Mitchells were in love with their home in the seaside enclave of Montecito where they moved in 1995, according to their daughter. They also loved their dog, Gigi, who is missing.
The other children killed were 6-year-old Peerawat Sutthithepn, 10-year-old Jonathan Benitez and 12-year-old Sawyer Corey. None of the adult dead shared their last names.
All of the dead were killed by “multiple traumatic injuries due to flash flood with mudslides,” authorities said.