With rising river levels, downed trees and sporadic power outages, the week’s series of winter storms continued to wreak havoc on the Santa Barbara County area on Wednesday.
About 6:30 a.m., city police and fire crews rescued a 70-year-old man who was partially in the water of Mission Creek near 2700 Vernon Drive and was unable to get out on his own.
The man, a resident of Mission Terrace convalescent care facility, 623 W. Junipero St., suffered hypothermia but is expected to make a full recovery.
The facility’s staff reported that the man voluntarily left Tuesday afternoon with a woman. The man, who suffers from dementia, told police he voluntarily left the facility but not with a woman. He couldn’t explain how he got into the creek.
Also on Wednesday, from 1 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., police dispatch received the following reports of fallen trees:
» A large tree blocking the railroad tracks near the bird refuge. Union Pacific was notified.
» At Anacapa and Micheltorena streets, a large tree fell on parked cars and pulled down power wires. The 100 block of East Micheltorena Street was temporarily blocked.
» At Redrose Lane and Fellowship, a large tree fell on cars and was blocking the street.
» At 2400 Tallant Road, a large tree fell and was blocking the street.
» At Mesa Park, reports of several fallen trees. No reports of property damage.
A high wind warning was in effect until 4 p.m. Wednesday. South to southeast winds of 25 to 40 mph were expected to increase rapidly, with the strongest winds — up to 60 mph gusts — most likely to occur through midafternoon.
The winds were likely to make travel difficult, especially for high-profile vehicles. There was also a significant threat of downed power lines and trees, and power outages.
A mid-day update Wednesday from county officials said that Public Works has initiated a 24-hour levee patrol as flows were estimated at more than 10,000 cubic feet per second in the Santa Maria River. Public Works has ordered dredging cranes for Goleta Slough and will start dredging as soon as possible. The department is also working to clean out debris basins and have reported no significant problems.
County officials said Gibraltar Lake is full and water is being released into the Santa Ynez River. Lake Cachuma still has about 19 feet to go from spill levels.
The report also said that Rosemary Road in North County was closed at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday from Betteravia Road to Stowell Road because of flooding.
Traffic lights on upper State Street in Santa Barbara between Hitchcock and De La Vina streets also were reportedly blinking. Scattered stoplights downtown also were out, and drivers were advised to use caution.
Another storms is expected to blow in Thursday, and County Emergency Operations Chief Michael Harris briefed the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday on the weather after a conference call from with officials from North and South County and the National Weather Service.
The rain and thunderstorms are likely to continue until Friday, Harris said, and an increased likelihood of thunderstorms will exist as the week progresses.
“It’s going to get a little more heavy over the next couple of days,” he said, adding that Friday and into the weekend could present come “unstable air” and longer range forecasts are still developing.
In fact, the Santa Barbara County Fire Department responded Tuesday morning to a possible tornado in a residential neighborhood near Phelps Road in Goleta. Responders found a tree had been uprooted, a fence knocked down and a basketball hoop toppled.
Capt. David Sadecki said a small tornado could have touched down, but there weren’t any witnesses to confirm that. No injuries were reported.
The cumulative amount of rain residents can expect to see should hover around 8 inches up and down the coast, and as many as 20 inches in the mountains.
A coastal flood watch is in effect through late Wednesday night, and a high surf advisory will be in effect until Friday afternoon. Breakers are expected to peak Wednesday and Thursday and could reach as high as 25 feet. Harris said high swells are expected particularly along western facing beaches.
Dangerous rip currents on all areas beaches are also expected through much of the week. The National Weather Service is advising even experienced swimmers to stay out of the water, and that rocks and jetties will be especially dangerous because waves can suddenly sweep people in.
County officials are also advising the public to stay out of creeks, streams and riverbeds, and county public works crews have been on patrol to monitor river basins and creeks to keep them clear of debris and flowing.
No evacuation orders or warnings have been issued yet for anywhere in Santa Barbara. No school closures have been announced either, but if a decision is made to close a school, parents and staff are notified using an emergency call-out system, the media is alerted and information is posted on the Santa Barbara School Districts Web site, according to the district’s Barbara Keyani.
Monday saw power outages as far north as the bay area and down into the central coast, according to officials from Pacific Gas and Electric. More than 212,000 customers have had their service affected.
Santa Barbara’s homeless residents are also inevitably effected by bad weather, as Dr. Lynne Jahnke reminded supervisors at their board meeting Tuesday.
“Every year we get rain and cold weather, and people die on the streets because of this,” she said.
Jahnke and other volunteers have opened their own warming shelter at the Unitarian Society, which they will be keeping open all week. She said the shelter had more than 30 people Sunday night, and that others had to be turned away for lack of room.
“It’s the county’s job to be responsible for the indigent,” she said. “It’s going to be a terrible winter, and we need to do something now.”
Officials with the county fire department said they started emergency staffing Monday and will continue to have increased staff based on daily reports from the National Weather Service.
Sadecki said the fire department responded to 20 calls for emergency service on Monday from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
“The weather-related calls included vehicle accidents, power lines down, transformer fires, roadways blocked and trees down,” he said, adding that none of the incidents was considered serious.
Sand and sand bags remain available at the following South County locations:
» Santa Barbara Annex Yard, 401 E. Yanonali St.
» County Corp Yard at the Transfer Station, 4430 Calle Real
» Santa Barbara Botanic Garden parking lot, 1212 Mission Canyon Road
» Montecito Fire Station 1, 595 San Ysidro Road
» Carpinteria Maintenance Yard, 5775 Carpinteria Ave.
» Carpinteria-Summerland Fire Protection District Fire Station 2, 2375 Lilly Ave., Summerland
» County Fire Station 11, 6901 Frey Way, near Home Depot
» County Fire Station 14, 320 N. Los Carneros Road
» County Fire Station 32, 906 Airport Road in Santa Ynez
» Santa Maria Road Yard, 912 W. Foster Road
— Noozhawk staff writer Lara Cooper can be reached at lcooper@noozhawk.com.
