Storm Cleanup in Southern Santa Barbara County Moving Fast

As storms go, the one that just passed through the area could be called “mild” in Southern Santa Barbara County.

Creeks held up, roadways stayed open, and there were no fatal accidents.

As forecasters predicted, most areas had about 2.0 inches of rain in the coastal communities and some higher elevations were around 4.0 inches.

A part of Mission Creek east of Stearns Wharf opened up through a sand bar and exposed old pilings from days gone by.

One resident James Zahoudamis said he was not planning to turn on his automatic sprinklers for quite some time with the rain he received. “My landscaping is happy. I was telling my daughters, ‘they are is dancing in ecstasy.’ They haven’t seen rain like this in two years. I think we have enough enough rain here that the trees and shrubs are happy.”

A flood control site off the San Ysidro Trail had water flowing gently, and the water moved smoothly through a pipe, downstream towards the ocean. In our wettest years, water has gushed over the top of this large concrete and rock debris basin.

The rain was welcomed but water officials say there will have to be about ten more of these storms this year before concerns about the four year drought will ease.

Cachuma Lake, the areas largest water supply remains at 28.5 percent of its capacity, a seriously low level.