Assistance center opening for Montecito victims

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KABC) -- An assistance center is opening Wednesday to help victims of the Montecito mudslides.

The center will help people in evacuated areas with issues like replacing lost driver's licenses and answering questions about insurance.

The County Office of Emergency Management is setting up the center at Calvary Chapel of Santa Barbara, 1 N. Calle Cesar Chavez, Santa Barbara.

The center will be set up from Wednesday through Saturday, Feb. 3. During the week it will be open 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. and on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

More information about the center is available here.

Residents attended a community meeting Tuesday to ask a range of questions. Many are wondering when the 101 Freeway is going to reopen, when mail service will be fully restored and what progress has been made in locating three people who are still listed as missing after the Jan. 9 flash floods triggered devastating mudslides that wiped out homes and led to at least 20 deaths.

Officials said many of those questions will be answered at the assistance center.

"Even though they can't get back to their home, that is the number one place to go to start that rebuilding process," said Amber Anderson with Santa Barbara Fire. "To get their driver's license, to get social security cards, to get the contact for their insurance company."

She said there will be representatives from 65 different agencies at the center to help with the recovery process.