Two dead as mudslide buries Californian town

A huge mudslide crashed down on homes in a coastal hamlet with terrifying force, killing at least two people with 12 missing, as a Pacific storm hammered Southern California for a fourth day.

Ventura County Fire Department Chief Bob Roper said as many as a dozen residents were missing in the mudslide that pummelled a four-block area of homes in tiny La Conchita, about 70 miles north west of Los Angeles. Nine people were injured, including a 60-year-old man buried for three hours.