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The City of Santa Barbara is happy with its response to the current storms, creek overflows and flooding, however municipal officers mentioned they did study classes about the way to enhance their response forward of the subsequent deluge.
“We understand that the communication must be higher defined and re-enforced,” Metropolis Administrator Rebecca Bjork informed Noozhawk.
“Anytime you may have an occasion like this, you possibly can all the time study from it.”
Greater than 19 inches of rain fell on Santa Barbara County on Jan. 9 and the South Coast took the brunt of it. In an eerie coincidence, the storm struck on the five-year anniversary of the 2018 Montecito flash flooding and particles flows that killed 23 folks.
Whereas there was a lot anticipation and preparation for storm impacts in Montecito, this time Santa Barbara skilled neighborhood flooding and overflowing creeks, too.
Metropolis crews responded to 400 completely different calls through the storms, and emergency personnel needed to make quite a few rescues of individuals stranded of their vehicles and houses.
Bjork put the town’s storm harm estimate at $15.3 million.
A lot of the flooding occurred on the Decrease Westside, the place creeks quickly overflowed and residents’ vehicles have been totaled.
Sharon Byrne, a Westside resident and group activist, has hounded the town about its response to the storm.
“They issued no requires evacuation,” she mentioned. “They have been completely pre-2018 of their pondering. This hit them unexpectedly.”
Byrne’s automobile was amongst these with water harm.
She mentioned the town ought to have put out extra digital communication, evacuated areas vulnerable to flooding, and turned on the Police Department’s new sirens to induce folks to evacuate.
“When incidents occur, it’s important to talk,” Byrne mentioned, including that at minimal the town might have put up barricades to alert residents to not park or drive on flooded or at-risk streets.
“They weren’t ready within the metropolis,” she mentioned.
However Bjork adamantly disagrees, noting that every one residents have been rescued safely and that there’s all the time a component of shock in storms.
She mentioned Public Works Department crews have been working across the clock earlier than the storms arrived to clear particles from creeks to reduce flooding.
Bjork mentioned organising barricades just isn’t sensible.
“There was flooding and blocked intersections all through the town,” she mentioned. “Our first precedence was to verify streets are satisfactory.”
However classes have been realized, Bjork mentioned.
She vowed that the town would enhance efforts to teach folks dwelling alongside creeks in regards to the potential hazard.
The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) may also work to attain this aim, she mentioned, and the town will improve Spanish-language efforts on native radio and in official communications.
One main change, Bjork mentioned, will probably be to permit residents to park their autos on higher ranges of downtown municipal garages.
“Not less than they’d know they’ve a safe place for his or her automobile,” she mentioned.
She additionally urged folks to maintain themselves secure in storms.
“Numerous the harm was folks driving by means of flooded areas, and all we will ask for is compliance,” Bjork mentioned.
Along with the Decrease Westside, elements of the Eastside skilled flooding, significantly on the flood-prone Spring Road.
Calvary Chapel Santa Barbara at 1 N. Calle Cesar Chavez, Suite 21, one of many metropolis’s largest church buildings, had in depth harm and was pressured to relocate its providers.
“As we walked the dampened halls of the church, there was a way of loss amongst all of us,” the church posted on its Instagram feed. “The flood invaded our house — our residence. It was arduous to not really feel violated in a roundabout way — like our home had simply been damaged into.
“The rains fell arduous and the waters weren’t sort to our constructing. The youngsters space that we had spent years renovating was underneath water. Places of work that have been as soon as an area for counseling have been soaked. And our hallowed sanctuary — our house for worship — was compromised to the muse.”
Robin Elander, govt director of Downtown Santa Barbara, mentioned the rain stopped enterprise throughout a sluggish interval, however there weren’t any storm-specific damages.
“January is a troublesome month usually,” she mentioned. “Then, after all, we had this nasty storm, and nobody was popping out.”
On Coast Village Highway, mud and particles working down Olive Mill Highway from Montecito Creek backed up in entrance of the Montecito Inn, however the lodge’s homeowners and close by companies teamed as much as pay an organization to clear it. Metropolis crews finally hauled the muck away.
In any other case, Montecito companies escaped any actual harm.
“We don’t like being closed, however we like that the group stayed secure,” mentioned Trey Pinner, president of the Coast Village Association.
Bjork, together with different metropolis officers, have touted the town’s storm response, noting that there have been no deaths or critical accidents.
“We actually centered on security first,” she mentioned. “We have been truly making an attempt to verify folks have been secure.”
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