Santa Barbara residents dine out during calm before the storm

MONTECITO, Calif. - People in Santa Barbara and Montecito lined up to dine out on Coast Village Road before the rain that's in the forecast overnight.

Marco Farrell, who survived the debris flow that killed 23 of his Montecito neighbors in 2018, said he is monitoring the weather and ready to evacuate if needed.

"I'm feeling anxiety, um, but I have prepared as best I can for tonight, and we're going to continue the preparations tomorrow and just monitor the weather," said Farrell.

Farrell is in a PBS program called "Weathered Catastrophic Landslide in California: Can We Stop the Unstoppable?" He said if he knew then what he knows now he would have evacuated in 2018. Some of his own video is used in the series which can be found on Youtube here.

Farrell helped save his parents during the catastrophe. They rebuilt their family home and recently returned to what he now calls "sacred land."

Veronica and Christian Saunders said they enjoyed eating outside for the first time since the stay-at-home order was lifted.

"I mean we are grateful for the rain, but it is a scary thing with the mudslides," said Veronica Saunders.

"It obviously brings back, you know, terrible, terrible thoughts and memories, mixed with this pandemic, I don't know. And then the stay-at-home order just lifting, let's get out and have dinner and buckle down for a few days," said Christian Saunders.

They said they will be watching the weather closely for the next couple of days.