With reminders of the past week’s storms scattered up and down the beach, Santa Barbara residents may get a welcome respite of sunshine heading into Saturday.
According to the National Weather Service, Saturday and Sunday are likely to be mostly sunny, and there’s a 20 percent chance of rain for Monday.
Twelve boats washed ashore in Santa Barbara County during the week. Nine of the boats turned up on East Beach, two washed up below the Santa Barbara Cemetery, and one hit the Goleta Beach pier and sank.
A small craft advisory is in effect for boats in the Santa Barbara Channel until late Sunday night. Big waves are expected Saturday and could reach as high as 15 feet.
Although Santa Barbara received about 4 inches of rain in the past five days, no major mudslides or debris flows occurred, and no evacuations or warnings were issued.
Thursday proved particularly destructive, however, and shortly before noon, a large tree toppled at Haley and Bath streets, pulling down power lines, damaging at least 10 vehicles and trapping a woman inside her vehicle. The woman’s car wasn’t hit by the tree, but Capt. Mike Deponce said crews with the Santa Barbara City Fire Department moved limbs and waited for Southern California Edison to cut power to the area before getting her out.
West Haley Street was closed between Bath and De La Vina streets, and the Santa Barbara School District canceled afternoon classes for nearby Las Flores Preschool.
Besides the usual medical calls, Deponce said that about half of the department’s calls on Thursday involved trees, with branches caught in wires, causing them to arc and catch the trees on fire. The Santa Barbara Police Department received several calls of a possible sinkhole forming on Modoc Road at Veronica Springs.
With snow levels are expected to drop, Santa Barbara County could have snow and icy conditions at the higher elevations of mountains and mountain roadways, according to county officials.
The pier at Goleta Beach is open after being closed for several days, but Lake Cachuma remains closed to boaters. Guadalupe Dunes, Ocean Beach and Waller Park also were closed as of Friday afternoon.
County Public Works scaled back its 24-hour levee patrol Thursday, and water mains flowing into the pilot channel and levee were moving smoothly.
Cachuma Reservoir saw a rise of more than 5 feet in the past four days and remains at 79 percent capacity. Gibraltar Reservoir is at its maximum level.
County officials said Friday they will use the respite in the weather to continue dredging Goleta Slough and begin cleaning up debris left by the storm.
— Noozhawk staff writer Lara Cooper can be reached at lcooper@noozhawk.com.
