Anxiety sets in as new winter storm aims for Montecito

MONTECITO, CA (FOX 11) - For some, anxiety may be setting in as another winter storm heads toward Southern California and right at Montecito. In the town's North Village a communications table has been set up to provide the latest information to locals on the danger that may lie ahead.

Wednesday night, it's expected that authorities will say whether mandatory evacuations are needed by 9am Thursday morning.

At the table, Sue Ziliotto and others talk to residents one after another... many concerned like Nikki Puentes who's ready to leave town on a moment's notice. She got trapped in her area during the January slide.

And, everyone we spoke with knew someone who died. There were over 20 and two are still missing.

Frank Sales says, "We knew several. We knew the Cantons. Dave Canton was our scout master."

Sue Ziliotto told us that her hand doctor, Dr. Montgomery, will killed.

Carrie Hafner said a friend of her daughter is still missing.

Actress Fannie Flagg lives in Montecito. She told FOX 11, "I think we know to take everything that's told of us now seriously and nobody wants to go through what we went through."

She's ready to head out of town if necessary. Says Flagg, "It's inconvenient and is hard on especially older people, but you know what? it's better than what happened the last time."

Hafner says, "The loss of life weighs so heavily."

Meanwhile, David Smith explained the anxious feeling of a storm on the way is "a constant sort of weight on your shoulders and its probably going to be like this the first few years.