After a few false alarms, Tuesday’s winter storm came through with significant rainfall across Santa Barbara County.
In a drought area so unaccustomed to rain, authorities warned residents about flooding and mudslides, and urged everyone to prepare seriously for a wet, windy winter.
Caltrans closed all southbound Highway 101 lanes at Seacliff in Ventura County due to mud and water on the roadway.
At 11:20 a.m., the Santa Barbara County Office of Emergency Management said the estimated closure would be four hours, with traffic diverted onto Pacific Coast Highway until the State Beaches onramp.
Northbound lanes were not impacted.
One lane was reopened at about 1:40 p.m., and the other two were opened around 5 p.m., according to the CHP.
There was a flash flood watch issued for recent burn areas, including the Solimar Fire south of Carpinteria, and the California Highway Patrol reported roadway flooding in the area beginning at about 9 a.m.
Buellton 0.83″ Carpinteria 1.44″ Goleta 1.70″ Lompoc 0.99″ Montecito 1.64″ Santa Barbara 1.64″ San Marcos Pass 2.31″ Santa Maria 0.39″ Solvang 1.16″
A Southern California Edison power outage affecting 223 customers was reported in Montecito early Tuesday, and the equipment damage was caused by rain, according to the Edison Outage Map.
The outage started around 5 a.m. and repairs were expected to be finished by 6 p.m.
No other outages were reported in Santa Barbara County, but there were dozens of outages, planned and unplanned, reported in the rest of the Edison service area as of midday Tuesday.
The National Weather Service predicted coastal areas in southern Santa Barbara County could get up to 2 inches of rain from the first of several weather fronts expected this week.
Storm clouds moved through the county all day, with moments of sunshine followed by showers.
Most South Coast areas received between 1.5 and 2 inches of rain, while North County and Santa Ynez Valley areas generally got less than an inch.
South Coast mountain areas got the most rain, with a San Marcos Pass station recording 2.31 inches as of 6 p.m.
The average rainfall for January varies from 2.74 inches in Santa Maria to more than 4 inches in Carpinteria and Santa Barbara.
Click here for real-time rainfall amounts, which are tracked by the county Public Works Department.
The hourly forecast from the National Weather Service expected rainfall to end around 4 p.m., then start back up early Wednesday morning for another full day.
The chance of rain sticks around until Sunday.
High surf advisories, wind advisories and coastal flooding advisories are all in effect for areas of Santa Barbara County this week.
— Noozhawk managing editor Giana Magnoli can be reached at gmagnoli@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
Crews clearing mud from SB101 near Ventura Bchs #vcstorms pic.twitter.com/0UeNnxxiCb
— Caltrans District 7 (@CaltransDist7) January 5, 2016
