Crews Clean Up After Vicious Storm

Blowing sand and broken tree limbs left behind a big haul of work for crews along the Santa Barbara waterfront after the vicious storm Thursday night.

Most of the street flooding disappeared except for some big pools of water in some of the underpasses.

Cabrillo Blvd. was a difficult drive until city workers, many cleaning by hand, picked up everything that was blown into traffic lanes.

Two boats were on the beach east of Stearns Wharf.

A flag pole at the Veterans Memorial Building broke and a city fire crew had to cut it up and put the remaining part out. All while protecting the U.S. flag.

At Alameda Park a large tree split.

The Holiday Tree on State St. was whipped around by the winds and the decorations were tossed but it remained lit up despite the powerful blasts.

Longtime resident Phil Walker said he got about 2.0 inches of rain at his downtown house. He said the impact was the strongest he had seen since the 1980’s. He called the series of storms in the last few weeks, “a good start” to get us out of the drought.

The waterfront was much improved this evening, as the city gets set for the Boat Parade of Lights Sunday night followed by fireworks.