Evacuations ordered for Montecito, other communities following flash flooding warning

Santa Barbara County officials ordered evacuations for the entire Montecito community and several other communities on Monday afternoon due to the threat of flash flooding and forecast for more intense rainfall.

“Based on the continuing high rate of rainfall with no indication that that is going to change before nightfall, we are issuing the evacuation orders now,” he said.

The evacuation orders were in effect immediately for Montecito; Toro Canyon; Padaro Lane; Sycamore Canyon; Old San Marcos area below Painted Cave; Via Real between Highway 101 and Santa Claus Lane in the Carpinteria Valley; and campgrounds at Gaviota, El Capitan, Refugio and Carpinteria state beaches.

Schools will be closing within evacuation areas and students should be picked up immediately, Brown said.

“This is not a day to be out doing anything unless you have to,” Brown said.

Montecito had received more than 8 inches of rain in the last 12 hours and another 8 inches is predicted to fall in the storm, Montecito Fire Chief Kevin Taylor said.

The watershed is acting unpredictably, according to firefighters on the ground there, he added.

Some Montecito-area debris basins are already filled and expected to cause flooding in downstream residential areas, and possibly flood Highway 101, Brown said.

Storm-related information and evacuation maps will be available at readysbc.org.

An evacuation center is open at the SBCC Wake Campus at 300 N. Turnpike.

The county call center is open at 833-688-5551.

County officials announced a shelter-in-place order at 11 a.m. but the threat of more intense rain without a break caused them to order evacuations now.

A flash flood emergency alert went out to phones in Santa Barbara County around 11 a.m. Monday morning warning people, “this is a dangerous and life-threatening situation. Do not attempt to travel unless you are fleeing an area subject to flooding or under an evacuation order.”

The warning was in effect until 4:45 p.m.

Monday is the five-year anniversary of the deadly Montecito debris flows that killed 23 people, injured dozens more and damaged hundreds of homes.

“We are exactly five years removed from the 1/9 debris flow and our watershed is saturated. In the last 30 days we’ve had 20 inches of rain. We’ve had 5 inches of rain since 3 a.m. this morning,” Taylor said. “The community is at risk of a second debris flow from the Thomas Fire burn scar.”

More than 200 rescue staff are positioned in the community, he said.

Brown said the San Ysidro and Cold Spring creek debris basins in Montecito were filling up and could “potentially overflow,” which could cause flooding in residential areas below, and on Highway 101.

A shelter-in-place order was in effect for Refugio Canyon on the Gaviota Coast, since Refugio Road is impassable due to flooding.

Eric Boldt of the National Weather Service said rainfall rates of 1 inch per hour had already been recorded on the South Coast, and rates were expected to get even higher Monday afternoon until 6 p.m.

“This is a powerful storm,” he said.

Foothill areas had already received 5 to 7 inches on the South Coast, and by the end of these storms, there could be a foot of rain, Boldt said.

There is potential for a lot of dangerous flash flooding and high winds, he said.

A rainfall rate of 1.25 inches per hour has been observed, which is enough to cause debris flows in recent burn areas and outside recent burn areas, Boldt said.

There will be a lull in activity early Monday night, but there will be a “second wave” of more showers and thunderstorms later Monday night and into Tuesday morning, he said.

Santa Barbara County Fire Chief Mark Hartwig said there are rescue teams and responders staged throughout the county, and they have already conducted a water rescue in the Refugio Canyon area.

County emergency management officials announced evacuation warnings for South Coast communities near or within areas that burned in recent wildfires on Sunday.

The evacuation order applies to more communities than the ones identified in the warning map, which are areas that recently burned in wildfires: Refugio Canyon and parts of the Gaviota Coast for the 2021 Alisal Fire; the San Marcos Pass area for the 2019 Cave Fire; and Montecito and Carpinteria Valley areas for the 2017 Thomas Fire.

Mudslides, rockslides and flooding caused widespread highway and local road closures Monday.

Northbound Highway 101 lanes were closed between Mariposa Reina on the Gaviota Coast and Highway 1 due to debris flows, and then State Route 154 was closed in both directions between the Santa Ynez Valley and Santa Barbara.

That cuts off any northbound travel from Santa Barbara on the highways, and drivers will have to detour via Interstate 5 – accessed in Ventura County – during the closures, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The CHP and Caltrans asked people to avoid time on the roads as much as possible Monday due to the storm conditions.

Highway 135 was closed between Los Alamos and Harris Grade Road, and Highway 1 was closed between Black Road and Solomon in Santa Maria due to flooding.