Santa Maria’s water basins and network of canals mitigates storm water flow
SANTA MARIA, Calif. - Santa Maria is seeing the rainfall now as well, and their public works divisions are ready for water levels to rise.
As the Central Coast braces for the biggest rainstorm of the year so far, both the county of Santa Barbara and the city of Santa Maria are prepared for many different contingencies.
“If you are concerned about your safety or your property with this storm, do not wait for official notifications to take action,” says Stacy Silva, with the SB County Emergency Management Office.
Santa Maria Public Works employees are staffed, scheduled, and on-call for any kind of emergency situation.
“We have already prepared where we can deploy in a given time if water starts coming more than normal,” says Sam Angulo, Santa Maria Public Works Operations Manager.
Sandbags are stocked and available at any hardware store, and filling stations are strategically placed around town.
“Residents just need to know that our office, the Office of Emergency Management, is working in conjunction with public safety agencies from across the county to monitor the situation,” says Silva.
But unlike Santa Barbara’s tricky geography of hills, cliffs, and terraces, Santa Maria faces different challenges, as it is mostly flat land.
“Over the years, we have over the years we have made a lot of improvements on our stormwater system. In the last few years we had severe weather. Where our Blosser Basin went to the top and we needed to monitor it,” says Angulo.
Public works officials say that, aside from some flash flooding when the rain is very strong, severe flooding has been mitigated quite well using a network of canals and water basins strategically placed throughout the Santa Maria valley.
“Public safety should remain your highest priority and we want to make sure that everybody does what is necessary in order for them to feel and remain safe,” says Silva.
