El Capitan State Beach, Gaviota State Park near Santa Barbara shut down due to rain storm

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - It’s a beautiful day at Refugio State Beach.

I" came down from Lompoc. I was excited to see the closed sign wasn’t up. And I just wanted to come down … check it out … see what the storm did," said visitor Jason Nasato.

District Superintendent Greg Martin says the storm did enough to keep engineers busy at several state parks. 

"The wave action … a lot of these parts in the channel his district, which covers Ventura and Santa Barbara County‘s sustained a lot of damage … damage to critical infrastructure, such as our water, systems, roads, and trails," said Martin.

Refugio State Beach just reopened to the public last week.

You can still see heavy debris washed up along the shoreline.

But visitors are overcome by the iconic California scenery.

"I like the sound of the waves … it makes you feel peaceful … It looks beautiful … it’s gorgeous," said visitor Salvador Vazquez.

While Refugio State Beach is open, engineers are still assessing in state parks along the Gaviota Coast.

"El Capitán and Gaviota state parks received the brunt of the damage. All three water systems at Gaviota Refugio and El Capitan were knocked out by the storms. We were able to restore here at Refugio but El Capitan and Gaviota received much more damage," said Martin.

Due to the severe damage, both El Capitan and Gaviota State Parks remain closed to the public.

"My hope is we will be able to make the necessary repairs to get visitors back into three state parks along the Gaviota coast. These are  iconic beaches as you can see … the demand is here … but we need to make sure our roads and our systems are safe," said Martin.

"I hope all the beaches will be open pretty soon," said Vasquez.

"It’s a very special place here," said Nasato.

The Winter Storms of January 2023 has lead to closures of local state parks and beaches in Santa Barbara County.

District planning chief Dena Bellman says the Channel Coast District just completed the initial damage assessments.

They say damage to State Parks along the Gaviota Coast was due to rain received within about 12 hours in the canyons above the Gaviota Coast.

They say the rain then surged downstream to the ocean.

The storm also affected the annual King Tides, combining 20 foot swells with 6 foot high tides.

Managers say this has challenged State Parks clean up and repair efforts along the coast.

Refugio SB was reopened for day use on Wednesday, Jan. 25., and Camping last Friday, Jan. 27.

Gaviota State Park and El Capitan State Beach are currently closed until further notice.

This includes all trail systems.

All three of these parks suffered breaks or loss of portions of their waterlines.

Refugio’s damage was the least severe of the three and has been repaired.

Gaviota SP and El Capitan SB also suffered severe damage to the roads and trails that carried these waterlines.

Crews are working to repair the road in order to access and repair the waterlines.

El Capitan SB Entrance Road and primary Dy Use Beach Access Trail received catastrophic damage from the storm.

Some areas required more time to dry out in order to safely access and assess damage.

As the water recedes, road, trails, and creek embankments continue to show damage.

State Engineering Team was onsite last week to provide evaluations on the integrity of park facilities including roads and trails and feasibility of repairs.

This allowed the district to move forward on reopening plans for some parks, and begin potential plans to repair some of the more severe damages.

The State Parks Trail team was onsite last week building the new El Capitan Entrance Trail.

They were able to transition and assist with debris removal and assessments to the trail systems at Gaviota and El Capitan.

They are also continuing to work on the new trail alignment as weather permits.

The Channel Coast District is not able to offer reopening dates for Gaviota SP and El Capitan SB at this time.

But managers are receiving emergency assistance from state and local agencies to help repair the parks, facilities and reopening of these iconic state parks.