Cambria hit with flooding, road closures as storm hammers North Coast

Access to a large chunk of Cambria was closed for about seven hours Monday because flooding on the road leading to the residential area was 18 to 24 inches deep and not safe to traverse, according to the fire chief, who added that raging Santa Rosa Creek waters were within a foot of the bottom of the Windsor Boulevard Bridge.

That was just one result of the area’s second “bomb cyclone” storm in a week, both fueled by an “atmospheric river” of moisture. And forecasters said more of the super storms were lined up, ready to hit the coast off and on over the next couple of weeks.

Justin Vincent, chief of the Cambria Fire Department, said by phone Monday night that by the time he ordered Park Hill’s Windsor Boulevard near Heath Lane reopened, the water level had dropped to between 3 and 6 inches deep. While driving across it still required a lot of caution and concentration, he said, the road was passable.

During the road closure, people were allowed to evacuate via a one-lane, unpaved road across the Fiscalini Ranch Preserve, but once they were out, they had to stay out until Windsor Boulevard was reopened. Vincent advised residents who could to shelter in place.

With more rain predicted starting early Tuesday, however, he said his up-staffed department would be monitoring hourly the conditions there and in other areas of town.

Meanwhile, during a lull between storms Monday, some stalwarts went out for some damp, windy walks, with and without their canine companions.

Other impacts

The hilly Park Hill neighborhood is bounded by Fiscalini Ranch Preserve, Shamel Park, Moonstone Beach Drive, SeaClift Estates and the shoreline.

Vincent had participated in a countywide Office of Emergency Services meeting Monday afternoon and said the national forecasters were predicting lighter rain early Tuesday, but stronger winds.

That concerned the chief and local residents who know that many of the trees in Cambria’s iconic Monterey pine forest are shallow-rooted and aging. Wind and ground already made super soggy by previous rains often combine to topple the most vulnerable of those trees, as happened Monday.

Dozens of trees went down that day, with one hitting the deck of a home and another falling through the roof. Various areas of the community and outlying areas were without electricity, most for hours. Some remained without power by evening. No injuries were reported.

Vincent said he and other officials have several other areas of storm-related concern in town.

Among them is West Village Main Street near the Old Cambria Marketplace/Shell Station, which flooded Sunday. After county crews arrived at high tide to turn on the flood control pump across the street, the flood had cleared by that afternoon.

Then, in Monday’s deluge, the area flooded even deeper and wider. Even though county crews turned on the flood-control pump about 6 a.m. that morning, Vincent said, it couldn’t keep up with the triple-threat combination of pooling at the low end of the district, runoff from the hills above and overflow from the raging Santa Rosa Creek.

The station remained closed all day.

The Burton Drive hill into downtown also was closed from Eton Road to Village Lane on Monday, according to a county roads worker, because a tree with a trunk of approximately 32 inches in diameter was overhanging the road. The tree was hanging so low, Vincent said, “we can’t get a fire engine past it.”

Other trees apparently were also tilting in the wind, causing concerns.

The Pinedorado Grounds near the Cambria Veterans Memorial Building on Main Street remained flooded Monday, and access was blocked by somewhat bedraggled yellow caution tape.

Nitt Witt Ridge

County road crews closed Hillcrest Drive to through traffic near Nitt Witt Ridge Monday night, according to Nate Gardner, the county roads lead worker.

Cascading runoff from down the hill alongside the state historical landmark crossed the road and apparently caused a landslide that real estate broker Bob Kasper videoed about 2 p.m.

Kasper said he’d been removing debris when the slide began “below Nitt Witt Ridge on the west side of Hillcrest, right near where that storm drain got plugged up two years ago.”

Various other roads in the community were closed as well, due to flooding, pavement damage and/or downed trees (some of which brought down electrical wires, causing power outages). Santa Rosa and San Simeon creek roads. were among the flooded roadways.

Kasper wasn’t the only longtime Cambria resident to say these super storms evoke memories of earlier downpours and windstorms.

Jay and Pat Burbank said as they paused en route off Park Hill, that “this doesn’t seem quite as bad as the storms in 1995.”

But as Darrel and Diana Boles checked out and photographed the Shell station flooding, they said the conditions did remind them of that year’s disastrous storm that had covered the same station’s gas pumps and West Village with between 8 and 12 feet of water, depending on who was measuring the floodwaters where.

In that storm, runoff in Santa Rosa Creek rose to bridge level, carrying logs, brush and other big debris that eventually took down the paved “apron” connecting Windsor Boulevard with the bridge. Access to Park Hill residences was cut off for days, and services district pipes carrying fresh water and sewage were ripped from below the bridge.

Precautions and advice

On Monday, Hearst Castle was closed as a public-safety precaution, State Park Superintendent Dan Falat said. Some trees had already fallen, and on that high hilltop, winds can howl and drive the rain horizontally.

Vincent reminded people that people shouldn’t let down their guards just because the rain stops.

He spoke about the storm water rushing down out of the hills east and north of Cambria, gurgling loudly in creeks and temporary waterfalls out of bluffs, and filling streets with rivers of mud and debris.

The tired fire chief said the flow of runoff and underflow “will take time to get all the way to us (and) we’re still under a flash flood warning,” so people need to be aware, take precautions and do whatever they can to stay safe.

This story was originally published January 9, 2023 at 7:42 PM.

Kathe Tanner

The Tribune

805-781-7904 (voicemails only)

Kathe Tanner has been writing about the people and places of SLO County’s North Coast since 1981, first as a columnist and then also as a reporter. Her career has included stints as a bakery owner, public relations director, radio host, trail guide and jewelry designer. She has been a resident of Cambria for more than four decades, and if it’s happening in town, Kathe knows about it.