Nineteen people are now feared dead in the catastrophe that wiped out at least 13 homes and damaged 18 others in the tiny town of La Conchita, northeast of Los Angeles, police and fire officials said.

The rescue effort was halted after experts determined there was little hope of finding more survivors three days after a hillside collapsed and engulfed the homes.

"We are now moving this operation from a rescue op to a re-establishment of the community here," said Ventura County Fire Department Chief Bob Roper, adding that there was a danger of further slides.

"The mud mass now surrounding the area is pre-empting any oxygen from getting to anyone who might be there," he said.

The last survivors were dragged from the ruins of their homes hours after the collapse on Monday and medical experts have now advised that "survivability does not exist at a very high level," Roper said.

"Now its time to rebuild the community and that's what we are here to do," he added.

Some 648 rescue workers from 22 different agencies have been working round the clock to locate survivors of the latest natural disaster to hit the Golden State.

The hillside collapsed after torrential storms unleashed more rain in the area in five days than usually falls in a year.

The sodden earth and water run-off still poses a huge danger to both survivors and rescuers, prompting officials to evacuate more homes in the area on Thursday.

All rights reserved. � 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.