The wait and see storm hit for just long enough to soak several areas
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - After a long period of light to moderate rain, this latest and largest storm of the year began gushing its way through the streets from Goleta to Carpinteria during the afternoon hours.
That created a series of challenges.
In several areas of Highway 101, cars lost traction and some spun out.
One went down into a ditch off the northbound freeway past Castillo into an area right behind the DMV office.
The driver was not seriously hurt.
The Funk Zone started filling up around Anacapa and Yananoli streets.
City workers brought out barricades to keep cars out before they were swamped by the pooling water.
Mission Creek came alive through Oak Park.
But the runoff was not strong enough to bring it up to any level of concern.
"The rain doesn't bother me, it is better than the fires right?" said Carpinteria resident Winddance Twine. She was attending the middle-of-the-day movies at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. "I mean, okay, this rain is ending tonight. So this is just a very small price to pay."
Not a lot of people were out just strolling downtown in the rain, but some people wanted to come to the Santa Barbara International Film Festival's Film Center, to get out of their car, and to get someplace dry for a couple of hours.
Deborah Christobal said, "no rain or snow or sleet is not going to stop me from seeing movies. What I love and that's what I am here for."
One film fan from Orcutt said he was out of the car and heading right inside, thinking, "it really doesn't matter when you're film addicted. But yes, I brought enough to keep me warm enough."
At the Santa Barbara Airport where there's been some creek flooding in recent years, everything was going where it should and nothing went outside of the banks on the Hollister Avenue side of the property. Travelers were bundled up and planes were coming and going mostly on time with some delays and cancellations showing on the arrivals and departure schedule.
