Santa Barbara Airport reopens following temporary closure

SANTA BARBARA, Calif.—Several inches of rain covered the tarmac after the Carneros Creek overflowed onto airport property causing the Santa Barbara Airport to cancel all flights.

“ That's when any type of air traffic will have to stop. That's no longer safe to, you know, land on the airfield without an amount of water. So that's what we talk about when we say the airport's flooded. There's physical water, you know, up to several inches sometimes of water on the airfield. And all of that is coming down through the creeks,” said Airport Spokesperson Angie Daus.

Staff say this is the second time this month the airport has flooded. 
 
The January storms of last year was the first time in 7 years that the airport was forced to close.
 
“ We all know that there's a lot of weather changing in our world, though, unfortunately. And so I guess we will find out if this is a new norm. But we aren't necessarily anticipating that. But we will be working with all of the local jurisdictions, with weather experts and and other experts and kind of this field of study to better understand what that might look like for us,” said Daus.
 
The temporary shutdown caused some disruption to passengers and the local economy, but passengers like Alice Arias made the most of her extra time in Santa Barbara.
 
“I was a little nervous that we wouldn't be able to get out of here, but I was actually maybe kind of happy as I was like, if our flights delayed, we actually had free drink, drink tickets to another place that we weren't able to get to. So I was like, If our flights flight's delayed, we could utilize these drink tickets,” said Alice Arias, who is traveling back to Austin, Texas.

“ Unexpected situations especially, that's the time to, uh, look for building patience in your life first to gain a spirit of peace,” said Orthodox priest John Carillo.

No major damages to the airport grounds have been reported at this time.