Locals braced themselves for Monday’s storm over the weekend.

SANTA BARBARA, Calif.- Locals braced themselves for Monday’s storm over the weekend.

Aaron Bennett has witnessed the devastation a storm can cause. he recounts living through the Montecito mudslides.

“They just completely wiped out neighborhoods that I grew up in and a lot of people I know lived in. So that was pretty tragic for Santa Barbara,” said Bennett, who has lived in Montecito for years.

In anticipation of more rainstorms, Bennett urged residents to have a plan and to take evacuation orders seriously.

Aaron Bennett who lives in Montecito said, “The lesson learned from the 2018 mudslide is if there's an evacuation order, get out of your neighborhood. If you're in a mudslide area, because as we learned that amount of water, you can't stop it and you don't want to be in the way because it's just deadly,” said Bennett.

The California Governor's Office of Emergency Services has deemed the Thomas, Alisal, and Cave burn scars as critical locations that require extra attention.

Santa Barbara County has dedicated an excavator, a loader and a road grader to mudslide prevention.

Without rooted plants to limit the impact of rain, these burn scars are at a higher risk for potential debris flows and mudslides.

“For people who might be concerned with the with the burn scars and stuff, I'm not real worried. But just hoping for the best that it doesn't do major damage, said Santa Barbara resident Tracy Johansson.

Beach front restaurants like Shoreline Cafe are taking extra precautions to make sure they're prepared for the storm. A huge part of this is making sure that there are enough sandbags to prevent potential erosion from the incoming waves

“We've filled about 150 sandbags. We're probably going to fill some more tomorrow, especially with the beach erosion to just kind of prepare and and hunker down and keep the restaurant from from going down,” said Shoreline Cafe General Manager Cameron Pyles.

Restaurants that rely heavily on outdoor dining will be heavily impacted by the storm, but restaurant manager Cameron Pyles says that safety comes first.

“Stay inside if it's if it's a little too aggressive out and drive slow and in order to take out food,” said Pyles.