Boat owners advised to secure their vessels as stormy weather arrives

SANTA BARBARA, Calif.- It's not going to be the most powerful weather system in recent years, but what's coming this week could be enough to cause concerns.

The Santa Barbara Harbor Patrol is alerting boat owners in the harbor and in the East Beach offshore area to make sure their vessels are secure and not at risk from drifting or sustaining damage.

It's a wrap-around effort for any boat owner. The proactive approach is a way to get ahead of any issues that may take place when aggressive weather arrives. That could be Wednesday or Thursday when forecasters in the First Alert Weather Center see the chance of thunderstorms.

For boats anchored outside of the harbor, "we try to contact those boaters and try to get those boats  out of the water if we can if there is a storm coming. Anyone who is on board we will contact several days before, advising them of the weather system encouraging them to come into the harbor. You can't force them to do so but we will do that once or twice before that storm comes in we're a harbor of safe refuge," said Lt. Nathan Alldredge from the Santa Barbara Harbor Patrol.

For boat owners in the harbor, "pay attention to the marine forecast, come down and check on your boat, look at your lines make sure bilge pumps are working, everything is battened down and tied down too. For any kind storm surge and high tide with swells is sort of a danger for us," said Alldredge.