As many of my closest friends are tired of hearing, one of my personal goals for 2018 is to start getting Noozhawk the national recognition it deserves.
For 10 years now, we’ve been covering our community with integrity and professionalism, and I’m gratified and grateful that our readers have made us Santa Barbara County’s No. 1 source for online local news.
But in this tumultuous era of journalism, there are numerous national foundations, professional journalism organizations and interested benefactors determined to figure out ways to develop and support independent local news operations. They realize that legacy media are becoming fossilized and that blogs and curation sites have inherent limitations.
Unfortunately, they’re usually looking for silver bullets, which often backfire — sometimes spectacularly, as Santa Barbarans may remember from a few years ago.
I’ve long maintained that it’s much easier to change a tire than reinvent the wheel, and that the pioneering work Noozhawk has done here is a model that can be just as successful elsewhere. We’re eager to help, to collaborate or to partner, and I’ve made it one of my missions to raise our profile this year.
Little did I know that the first opportunity would come just two weeks into 2018, but that’s what happened when Tim Arango of The New York Times called me to talk about the devastation in Montecito.
We covered a lot of ground — on and off the record — as part of the reporting for his Jan. 14 story, “In Montecito, Enclave of Wealth and Fame, Unimagined Tragedy.” In the end, aside from the obligatory celebrity name-dropping, much of what he focused on was the community’s resiliency. As a longtime resident, I do believe Montecito possesses such a character trait, and that it will carry us through the arduous and painful recovery we have ahead of us.
But while it’s cool to see your name — spelled correctly — in The New York Times, it was even more exciting to see the live link to Noozhawk. Lifelong Minnesota Vikings fan that I am (long story), I’m taking the win. And looking for more.
Speaking of looking for more, you sure were this past week. According to our Google Analytics, we had a record 332,703 readers over the last seven days and more than 686,000 pageviews, or stories read.
Only one story — our Barry Punzal’s report on the death of water polo legend Jim Ranta — cracked a Top 26 lineup of flood-related articles. It was No. 23.
What follows is my take on the Top Five stories you were reading this past week. Please note that this is my Best of Bill opinion column, not a news story. You’ll be fine.
1. Caltrans Rescinds Monday Reopening Date for Highway 101
Our top two stories of the week actually are two versions of the same story: What’s the deal with Highway 101 and when will it reopen?
When Montecito Creek exploded through the Devil’s Triangle at Hot Springs and Olive Mill roads early on Jan. 9, the raging river pretty much went wherever it pleased. That apparently did not include its bed, as the torrent plowed through the Montecito Oaks neighborhood above North Jameson Lane and poured onto the freeway just east of Coast Village Road and the Montecito Inn.
The low-lying, four-lane highway quickly filled up with water, as well as bodies, parts of houses, cars, travel trailers, boulders, trees, debris and anything else the creek had dragged with it on the way down.
Recovery crews immediately set to work clearing the mile-long stretch of highway, with — understandably — the earliest attention focused on locating the dead and missing.
While that sensitive work was going on with care and precision, a massive, round-the-clock cleanup effort was underway with heavy equipment and a long, long, long line of dump trucks. And, yet, for more than a week, it seemingly made no difference.
“We have to find out how to get the creek back into the creek bed,” Tom Fayram, deputy director of the Santa Barbara County Public Works Department, told our Tom Bolton on Jan. 12. “Until we fix that, 101 won’t be fixed, so that’s going to be Job One.”
Authorities who had been optimistic that the freeway could be back online by Jan. 15, six days after the flash flooding, later set a new target of Jan. 22 but noted that was just a guess.
“It’s truly unknown at this time,” California Highway Patrol Capt. Cindy Pontes said.
A lot of progress was made overnight on Jan. 16, however, and the southbound lanes were looking pretty good when I was down there the evening of Jan. 18. (Click here for my Instagram photos chronicling some of my travels around Montecito.) The northbound side still has a long slog ahead and, let me tell you, the stench is revolting.
With the highway, also known as El Camino Real and one of the West Coast’s two north-south arteries connecting California, Oregon and Washington, closed at least until Jan. 22, Coast Village Road has been taking a beating as the only way to get convoy after convoy of debris trucks in and out of Montecito.
And, of course, if you’re driving from Ventura County and points south, Summerland is as far as you go.
If you’re not interested in a five- or six-hour detour via Interstate 5, Amtrak has restarted passenger rail service between Santa Barbara and Ventura, although the trains are packed.
The Condor Express and Island Packers are ferrying people between the Santa Barbara and Ventura harbors, and a number of aviation options are up in the air, too.
Meanwhile, I can’t help but wonder whether things would be moving faster had the freeway been widened years ago — like it was supposed to be. To all of my Montecito friends and the politicians — past and present — who have fought that project tooth and nail, how do you like its environmental impacts now?
2. Morgan Corey Is Identified as 19th Person Who Died in Montecito Flooding
Four days after massive flash floods and mudslides tore apart Montecito, the body of a 19th victim was located Jan. 13, buried in mud and debris near Casa Dorinda.
According to Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown, the remains of 25-year-old Morgan Christine Corey were discovered around 9 a.m. just east of the 200 block of Olive Mill Road.
Corey’s 12-year-old sister, Sawyer, also died in the unimaginable carnage, which so far has claimed the lives of 20 people.
In addition to the Corey sisters, as of Jan. 18, the other confirmed dead are:
» Jonathan Benitez, 10
» Kailly Benitez, 3
» Joseph Francis Bleckel, 87
» Martin Cabrera-Munoz, 48
» David Cantin, 49
» Peter Fleurat, 73
» Josephine Gower, 69
» John McManigal, 61
» Alice Mitchell, 78
» James Mitchell, 89
» Mark Montgomery, 54
» Caroline Montgomery, 22
» Marilyn Ramos, 27
» Rebecca Riskin, 61
» Roy Rohter, 84
» Peerawat Sutthithepa, 6
» Pinit Sutthithepa, 30
» Richard Loring Taylor, 79
Three people remain missing:
» Faviola Benitez Calderon, 28
» John “Jack” Cantin, 17
» Lydia Sutthithepa, 2
3. Operations Map Charts Devastation from Montecito Flooding
The staggering scope of the Montecito flash flooding and mud bombs is unfathomable, even to those who have experienced the aftermath firsthand. The pictures and video you’ve seen capture just a fraction of the horrific and utter devastation.
One of the most telling images is a color-coded map that CalFire’s incident management team has been using to keep track of the toll, including structures that have been destroyed or damaged, where searches have been conducted and where 20 heartbreaking discoveries were made.
According to the map, the vast majority of the damage was in and below the major creek drainages from Cold Spring, Hot Springs, Montecito, San Ysidro and Romero creeks. Smaller drainage areas in between also were pummeled, although not all were affected.
Two of the hardest hit areas were in the voluntary evacuation zone along Montecito Creek, where nearly two dozen houses were simply obliterated around the triangle intersection of Hot Springs and Olive Mill roads, and in the Glen Oaks Drive neighborhood, where even more houses were mowed down near San Ysidro Creek east of Knowlwood Tennis Club.
In all, most of the worst-case scenarios — and almost all of the deaths — occurred in voluntary evacuation zones.
As mentioned previously, when determining threat levels from the Thomas Fire and potential flash flooding in its burn area, emergency management officials appear to have used identical maps for each disaster. Everything above East Valley Road/Highway 192 was under mandatory evacuation orders for both fire and flood, everything below was voluntary.
Also as mentioned previously, I’m no emergency expert so I’m not qualified to say whether that was prudent. While fire follows fuel, I think water has a tendency to flow downhill — but perhaps I should Wikipedia that.
Click here to view the work-in-progress CalFire map.
4. Progress Is Slow but Steady in Montecito Flooding Recovery; 19th, 20th Fatalities Reported
Facing a 30-square-mile disaster zone, more than 2,100 recovery personnel blanketed flood- and mud-ravaged Montecito on Jan. 13.
Jeff Ohs, operations chief for the incident management team, told a news media briefing that search teams were continuing to look for possible survivors from the Jan. 9 flash flooding that ripped apart the community. He said 20 bodies have been recovered, with three victims unaccounted for.
Having completed secondary searches of scores of destroyed and damaged houses, Ohs said firefighters had begun digging through the piles of mud and debris that seemed to be everywhere.
A massive effort was underway to clean out debris basins, creek beds, drains and culverts before more rain arrives.
“If we don’t get those debris basins cleaned out, then we’re not going to be prepared for the next storm,” said Rob Lewin, director of the Santa Barbara County Office of Emergency Management.
While no one faults the focus and the urgency, plenty of Montecito residents are beginning to voice frustration over the vague — and, frankly, breezy — official timelines for when they’ll be allowed to return to their homes. Nearly every hotel in Santa Barbara and Goleta is full of Montecitans, and I can tell you that the one I’m living in and a couple of others I’ve visited in the last few days are teeming with a growing discontent. They’re also rife with rumors, which is another result of a transparency vacuum.
All of us know people who lost everything, but everyone suffered something. Hundreds of houses were damaged, and even the most minor flooding can cause major problems if left untreated for just a few days, let alone weeks.
Residents have a right to get to their homes to recover and protect their property, and it would be helpful if elected officials and those riding point on this disaster made more of an effort to communicate and engage directly with their displaced constituents about those concerns. A hotel meeting room may not be as glamorous as the set of The Ellen Show, but the audience that counts is trapped right here in town.
5. Alana Walczak: We Are All Experiencing Traumatic Stress — What You Can Do
My friend, Alana Walczak, CEO of the nonprofit CALM (Child Abuse Listening Mediation), writes a popular monthly column for Noozhawk, and her Jan. 12 contribution could not have been more timely — and necessary.
She described how overwhelmed she had become over the last seven weeks or so as she, her family, her friends, her colleagues and her community grappled with the trauma of the Thomas Fire and now the deadly Montecito flash flooding.
But in addition to putting into words what we’ve all been thinking, she provided simple and practical advice to face our fears and conquer them with awareness, balance and connection.
It’s a powerful column and it’s been forwarded thousands of times since its Jan. 12 posting.
On a side note, Alana’s twin daughters are students at Adelante Charter School of Santa Barbara. As a school assignment, they and their sixth-grade classmates were asked to translate the column into Spanish. They did, and Noozhawk will be publishing the Spanish-language version this weekend. Thanks for the help, Cheetahs!
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Last Year on Noozhawk
What was our most-read story this time last year? Woman Dies After Being Found Unresponsive near Goleta Costco.
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Bill Macfadyen’s Story of the Week
What if you had X-ray vision? Gorgeous X-Ray Photographs of Plants and Animals.
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Watch It
This paper airplane goes way above — and beyond — the fold.
(WIRED video)
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— Bill Macfadyen is Noozhawk’s founder and publisher. Contact him at wmacfadyen@noozhawk.com, follow him on Twitter: @noozhawk and Instagram: @bill.macfadyen, or click here to read previous columns. The opinions expressed are his own.
