Storm updates: Search for missing boy concludes for the day; SLO closes evacuation center
Update, 5:30 p.m.
The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office has concluded its search for the missing 5-year-old San Miguel boy on Tuesday due to low visibility, according to the agency’s public information officer Tony Cipolla.
The agency will resume the search operations around the San Marcos Creek and Salinas River on Wednesday morning, Cipolla added.
Red Cross evacuation shelter closed in SLO
Update, 4:40 p.m.
The city of San Luis Obispo closed the Red Cross evacuation shelter at the Church of Nazarene as of 3 p.m. Tuesday, according to a news release Tuesday afternoon.
About 10 people stayed overnight at the shelter.
Due to the low census and the lifting evacuation orders and flash flood warnings, the shelter was closed, the city said.
Costco donates ice to stranded Oceano community
Update, 4:30 p.m.
SLO County emergency workers delivered 250 pounds of ice to an Oceano community stranded by flooding.
Residents of the Pacific Dunes Ranch RV Resort were stranded in Oceano after the levee in Arroyo Grande Creek was breached, the county said via Twitter.
The ice was donated by Costco, according to the release.
Cal Poly to reopen campus
Update, 4:15 p.m.:
Cal Poly plans to reopen Wednesday after two days of suspended classes due to the winter storm, according to a news release from the university.
In-person and virtual classes will resume as will most on-campus activities, the release said.
Students unable to attend classes due to the storms should reach out to their professors, and the registrar’s office encourages professors not to line-drop students who missed class due to the storm.
Cal Poly students impacted by the storm are encouraged to reach out to the dean of students office for assistance by emailing deanofstudents@calpoly.edu, the release said.
Students in need of financial assistance for essential items can apply for Cal Poly Cares grants and the Cal Poly food pantry is open until 5 p.m. Tuesday and reopens at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday.
Several roads on campus are still closed to non-essential operations due to the storm. The closures impact the Sports Complex Road, Mt. Bishop Road, Poly Canyon Road at Village Drive and Stenner Creek Road is closed east of the train trestle. The sports complex is also closed.
Most SLO County schools plan to reopen Wednesday
Update, 4 p.m.:
Most schools in San Luis Obispo County will resume classes on Wednesday after the storm caused campuses to close their doors Monday and Tuesday.
Jim Brescia, the county superintendent of education, wrote in an email to The Tribune that he had attended a briefing on Tuesday “with the National Weather Service, the Office of Emergency Services and local school agencies about weather closures.”
“Based on the information shared today, I anticipate that most school districts, charters, Cuesta, Cal Poly, care centers, private schools and parochial schools will reopen for service on Wednesday,” Brescia wrote.
However, Coast Unified School District in Cambria notified Brescia that it will remain closed on Wednesday because of “power and water-related issues,” he wrote.
Search for missing San Miguel boy continues
Update, 3:45 p.m.:
Dozens of community members were searching the banks of the Salinas River on Tuesday for a missing boy, 5-year-old Kyle Doan.
Doan, a kindergarten student at Lillian Larsen Elementary School in San Miguel, went missing Monday morning after he was swept away in floodwaters as his mother attempted to drive him to school. His mom, Lindsy Doan, is a teacher at Lillian Larsen, and was able to make it out safely.
The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office had searched for Kyle Doan for about seven hours on Monday, but paused the operation due to bad weather.
The agency then resumed searching for the boy on Tuesday at about 10:30 a.m., according to the agency’s public information officer Tony Cipolla.
About 15 to 30 Sheriff’s Office deputies were searching the San Marcos Creek for signs of the missing boy, including dive teams, drone teams, detectives and search and rescue team members, Cipolla said. The agency also requested help from a California Highway Patrol helicopter team, he added.
Cipolla noted that the search is very weather-dependent and it will continue as long as the weather cooperates and conditions are safe.
Although Cipolla requested community members refrain from going to the Salinas River to search for the boy, there were several out on Tuesday afternoon.
John Almaguer of San Miguel said that although he didn’t know Doan, he emphasized with the family and, because he’s retired, figured he’d search for the missing boy.
“The more eyes the better,” he said. “If I can lend a set of eyes ... Hey, you never know. We could find him. There’s some hope out there.”
SLO County road closures isolate homes
Update, 3:15 p.m.:
The San Luis Obispo County Public Works Department said there were 40 posted road closures on county-maintained roads as of 2 p.m. Tuesday.
Four of those road closures were isolating approximately 100 homes, according to the release. Isolated residents were in the Redondo, Chimney Rock, San Luisito Creek and Upper Lopez Canyon areas.
In the release, the county said it was “prioritizing actions to keep the public, county staff and emergency responders safe during these multiple storm systems passing through our county and much of the state of California.”
“We are currently focused on supporting CHP operations, responding to emergency calls including mud/rockslides, fallen trees blocking roadways and flooding,” the release said.
The county was working to reopen closed roads with particular attention to those where residents have no other way from their homes.
The Public Works department was also preparing for the next set of storms on the way, including inspecting culverts and road conditions, according to the release.
A list of San Luis Obispo County locations to get sand for sandbags is available here, while a list of currently closed county roads is here.
Los Osos homes damaged by flooding, mud
Update, 3 p.m.:
Floodwaters tore through Los Osos at about 4:45 p.m. on Monday, damaging 15 homes on Vista Court and another five homes on Montana Road, according to Cal Fire Battalion Chief Paul Provence.
Provence said he watched “a large wall of water” race down the street, carrying lawn chairs and barbecues.
Somehow, no one was injured in the flood, he said.
Vista Court resident Kay Blaney, 85, watched the floodwater spill into her yard on Monday afternoon, then evacuated to her friend’s house, she said.
“When I saw the water it was so rough out on Vista Court — it was a river,” Blaney said. “And yeah, I was a little scared. It was a miracle it didn’t come in the house.”
When she returned on Tuesday morning, she found a team of neighbors cleaning up parts of Vista Court — including her yard.
“It was incredible,” Blaney said. “People really want to help.”
Los Osos resident Bruce Hendry joined the cleanup efforts with his son, Sawyer, and they were found shoveling mud out of Blaney’s driveway.
“Everybody just picked up a shovel and started helping,” Hendry said. “We don’t have a lot of of crises out here, but when we do we help each other.”
Atascadero cancels Tamale Festival, Paso Robles lifts evacuations
Atascadero has canceled its popular Tamale Festival due to severe winter weather.
Now in its seventh year, the tamale festival was scheduled for 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday at the Sunken Gardens downtown.
“Over the last eight years, the Tamale Festival has been held each January, with the exception of 2021, in spite of light rainfall,” the city said in a news release Tuesday. “This year, with the sheer volume of rain and flooding that we are experiencing in Atascadero, it is impossible to hold the event this weekend,” the city said.
Although Paso Robles remained under a local emergency on Tuesday, the city lifted all of the evacuation orders and warnings put in place in response to a severe winter storm.
SLO County Sheriff’s Office identifies missing boy
Update, 12:24 p.m.:
The SLO County Sheriff’s Office identified the 5-year-old San Miguel boy who was swept away by floodwaters on Monday, as it prepares to resume search operations in the area.
The Sheriff’s Office identified the child as Kyle Doan, public information officer Tony Cipolla said in a news release.
Doan, a kindergartner at Lillian Larsen Elementary School, was last seen Monday morning near San Miguel when he and his mother became trapped in floodwaters. Bystanders were able to rescue her, but Kyle disappeared in the swift current.
Grandoli said the Doan family is holding out hopes that Kyle might be located alive.
“San Miguel is a small, very close-knit community and everyone has the family in their thoughts and prayers during this unfathomable tragedy,” Grandoli said. “Staff is beginning to organize support for the family.”
Lindsy Doan, Kyle’s mother, is a special education teacher at Lillian Larsen.
Morro Bay man found dead in a boat
Update, 12:04 p.m.:
A 78-year-old man was found dead in a boat in Morro Bay on Tuesday, according to the Morro Bay Police Department.
Officers were contacted at 7:55 a.m. Tuesday regarding a possible deceased person inside a stored boat in the 1500 block of Main Street, police said in a news release Tuesday.
Officers who arrived at the scene found the man to be unresponsive and he was confirmed deceased.
The cause of the man’s death is undetermined, the department said, and an investigation is ongoing.
SLO lifts shelter-in-place order
Update, 10:45 a.m.:
San Luis Obispo residents were no longer advised to shelter in place as of Tuesday morning, the city said in a news release.
“Additionally, San Luis Obispo businesses no longer need flood gates to be deployed but should still have them available and ready if the situation changes,” the release said. “While there is a lull in rainfall this morning, a flood watch and wind advisory are still in effect until today at 11 a.m. and 10 a.m., respectively.”
The city advised drivers to avoid flooded roads and prepare for possible thunderstorms and future weather advisories.
SLO Transit returned to limited service, the release said, as Routes 1a, 3a and 4a were operating again.
All public counters at city facilities, were scheduled to remain closed Tuesday as city staff are assisting with storm response work, the release said.
Caltrans releases list of highway closures
Update, 10:45 a.m.:
Caltrans provided a list of all closed highways in the Central Coast on Tuesday morning.
The following locations were closed due to flooding and debris in the roadway:
- Northbound US 101 at Highway 150 near Carpinteria, near Sheffield Drive near Summerland and from Winchester Canyon Road to Highway 1 north of Gaviota;
- Southbound Highway 101 at Milpas Street in Santa Barbara;
- Highway 154 from State Route 192 to the junction with Highway 246 near Santa Ynez;
- Highway 246 from Alamo Pintado Road in Solvang;
- Highway 1 from Highway 166 West to Brown Road in Santa Barbara County;
- Highway 41 West from Ironwood Drive to San Gabriel Road near Morro Bay;
- Northbound Highway 101 from 13th Street to 18th Street in Paso Robles; and
- Highway 1 from the Piedras Blancas elephant seal viewing area in San Luis Obispo County to Palo Colorado in Monterey County.
Original Story:
The deadly winter storm that slammed into San Luis Obispo County on Monday and early Tuesday morning left widespread flooding, damage, continued power outages and more across the region.
Stretches of Highway 101 and Highway 1 remained closed on Tuesday morning along with other major roadways.
More than 8,400 PG&E customers were without power in San Luis Obispo County.
A driver died near Avila Beach and a 5-year-old boy remains missing in San Miguel after he was swept away by floodwaters.
Meanwhile, evacuation orders remained in place for parts of Paso Robles and Arroyo Grande.
As SLO County surveys the storm impacts and braces for more rain, here’s what you need to know.
Flood warnings extended across SLO County
The National Weather Service extended its flash flood warning for the cities of Arroyo Grande, Grover Beach and San Luis Obispo until 5:45 p.m. Tuesday.
The agency had previously set the flood warning to expire at midnight Tuesday.
The Weather Service issued a special weather statement for San Luis Obispo County and Santa Maria at 6:07 a.m. Tuesday, warning of 55 mph winds and the possibility of pea-sized hail.
The most recent Weather Service radar loop, conducted at 4 a.m. Tuesday, showed showers and thunderstorms on their way across the Central Coast, bringing the possibility of brief or weak tornadoes.
The Salinas River near Paso Robles had passed below the flood stage, defined as 29 feet, as of Tuesday, the National Weather Service said on Twitter, and was expected to be below the action stage of 23 feet by Wednesday morning.
Stream levels began to recede from their peaks Monday afternoon, according to the San Luis Obispo County Public Works Department.
Thousands of PG&E customers without power
Thousands of PG&E customers in San Luis Obispo County remained without power Tuesday morning.
More than 15,000 PG&E customers lost power around 7 p.m. Monday, including 11,300 customers in Morro Bay, 1,900 in Nipomo and 1,300 in Avila Beach, according to the PG&E outage map.
While electricity had been restored to some of those customers as of Tuesday morning, other new outages popped up overnight — with customers in Cambria, Avila Beach and east of Paso Robles bearing the brunt of the blackouts.
In Cambria and the surrounding area, more than 5,000 customers lost power at 3:36 a.m., according to PG&E.
A total of 539 customers east of Paso Robles lost power around 4:06 a.m. Tuesday.
The utility company had not provided a timeline for those repairs as of 7 a.m. Tuesday.
More than 360 Atascadero customers remained without power Tuesday morning. PG&E expected to restore electricity by 8:54 p.m.
In Avila Beach, where 1,257 customers lost power Monday morning, PG&E said power is estimated to be restored around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday.
In total, more than 8,400 PG&E customers were without power in SLO County on Tuesday, according to the outage map.
“The outages are being caused by trees weakened by years of drought and now saturated soil that fall on powerlines and flooding or mudslides damage our equipment,” PG&E spokesperson Carina Corral wrote in an email to The Tribune on Monday. “In some portions of the service area, high winds, flooding and soil instability issues have made it unsafe for crews to work, which may lead to extended outages for our customers.”
Roads begin to reopen as flooding restricts highways
Large stretches of Highway 101 remain closed to drivers Tuesday morning, according to the California Highway Patrol.
In Paso Robles, Highway 101 was closed from 13th Street to 17th Street due to flooding as to 8 a.m. Tuesday, Caltrans said.
According to the CHP traffic incident log, attempts were made to reopen the roadway around 3 a.m. when floodwaters began to recede.
When emergency pump systems were shut off, flooding began to occur again at 3:47 a.m., according to the CHP.
In Morro Bay, northbound Highway 1 was closed at Morro Bay Boulevard as of 6:54 a.m. Tuesday.
In the city of San Luis Obispo, Highway 101 on- and off-ramps at Los Osos Valley Road were closed Tuesday but the Madonna Road on- and off-ramps had opened to traffic.
Elsewhere on the Central Coast, Highway 166 was closed from the north junction of Highway 101 in San Luis Obispo County to 7.8 miles west of the junction of Interstate 5 at Old River Road in Kern County due to mudslides as of 8 a.m. Tuesday, Caltrans said.
On Tuesday, Highway 1 was closed in several locations in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties, according to Caltrans.
A stretch of the scenic highway was closed from 2.2 miles north of San Simeon to Palo Colorado Road near Big Sur due to rockslides, the agency said.
In Morro Bay, Highway 1 was closed from five miles south of Morro Bay to Yerba Buena Street due to flooding, according to Caltrans.
The highway was also closed 1.5 miles south of Morro Bay from San Bernardo Creek Road to Morro Bay Boulevard, Caltrans said.
In southern SLO County, Highway 1 was closed 0.9 miles north of the border between Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties due to flooding.
A stretch of Highway 1 was also closed from 7.5 miles south of the junction with Highway 166 at Black Road up to the Highway 166 junction in Santa Barbara County.
Also in Santa Barbara County, Highway 101 and Highway 154 were closed from the junction of Highway 192 to the junction of Highway 246 due to flooding, Caltrans said.
Schools, Cal Poly close doors
The Lucia Mar Unified School District canceled all classes Monday and Tuesday in response to the storm.
“We plan to return on Wednesday, Jan. 11, but we will keep you informed,” the district said on Twitter.
San Luis Coastal Unified School District announced similar plans, closing schools again Tuesday with the intention to open all schools Wednesday
Cal Poly canceled all in-person and virtual classes, according to the university’s website, along with campus activities, for Monday and Tuesday, and extended the add-drop date for students.
The university said Tuesday that essential operations will continue operation — including food services; housing; police and emergency services; facilities and infrastructure; agricultural care and facilities; IT services and communications; leadership; procurements and contracts and research — though some “essential areas” may be closed.
“Non-essential operations will remain closed on Tuesday,” the university said on its website.
Karen Grandoli, superintendent of San Miguel Joint Union School District, said schools in the district will “hopefully” reopen Wednesday.
“Like most districts in San Luis Obispo County, we are closed (Tuesday) due to the severe weather and dangerous road conditions,” Grandoli said.
Homes damaged by flooding in Los Osos
Approximately 20 Los Osos homes were “severely damaged” by floodwater, San Luis Obispo County officials said via Twitter on Tuesday.
The damage happened in the vicinity of Vista and Montana Roads, the county said.
Crews were on the scene Tuesday assessing the damage.
Woman dies, child swept away by floodwaters
According to the CHP, a woman died on Avila Beach Drive on Monday after driving past closure signs into a flooded stretch of the road.
The woman, who had not been publicly identified as of Tuesday morning, drowned when her vehicle was submerged in water.
A 5-year-old boy went missing Monday morning after he was swept away in floodwaters near San Miguel, Cal Fire said.
Cal Fire responded to a call around 7:50 a.m. Monday to help a woman and her child trapped in a vehicle stuck in the San Marcos Creek creekbed, Cal Fire San Luis Obispo County Battalion Chief Travis Craig told the Tribune.
The woman was pulled to shore by local residents, but the child was last seen in the water moving away from the vehicle.
Although Cal Fire, the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office, San Luis Obispo County Search and Rescue and a CHP helicopter searched for the child for four hours, crews were unable to find the missing child, Cal Fire spokesperson Toni Davis said.
The boy is a kindergarten student at Lillian Larsen Elementary School, and his mother is a teacher for San Miguel Joint Union School District, the district confirmed Monday.
Anyone with information about the incident or the child’s whereabouts is asked to contact the Sheriff’s Office at 805-781-4540.
Evacuations displace Arroyo Grande, Paso Robles residents
The Paso Robles Police Department issued an evacuation warning for multiple areas in Paso Robles, including:
- Residents at Villa Del Rio apartments between 82 Rio Court and 98 Rio Court
- Residents between 70 Navajo Ave. and 96 Navajo Ave.
- Residents including 203 Vista Del Rio Court to 213 Vista Del Rio Court
- Residents between Riverbank Lane 118 - 160.
- Residents between Summer Creek Lane 1638 – 1705.
- Residents between Edgewater Lane 161 – 172.
- All residences along Paso Robles Avenue, including the areas between 390 to 406 Paso Robles St.
- The area along North River Road
Homes and businesses on South Higuera Street between Marsh Street and Elks Lane were evacuated by the SLO City Fire department on Monday morning due to due to “significant flooding in the area,” fire department spokesperson James Blattler said.
In South County, residents living near the Arroyo Grande Creek Channel were told to evacuate immediately late Monday afternoon as the Creek Channel filled and started to press past the south levee, according to a SLO County Office of Emergency Services news release.
All residents for one mile south of the Creek Channel and west of Highway 1 were ordered to evacuate.
On Monday, evacuation centers opened at the Church of the Nazarene, 3396 Johnson Ave. in San Luis Obispo, and Paso Robles Event Center, 2198 Riverside Ave. in Paso Robles, the San Luis Obispo County Office of Emergency Management said via Twitter.
A South County warming center, located at 800 W Branch St. in Arroyo Grande, was open to anyone who needs shelter from the storm through Tuesday night, the city of Arroyo Grande announced on Twitter.
SLO County rainfall totals
Parts of San Luis Obispo County saw rainfall totals push into the double digits over the past two days, according to the National Weather Service.
Rocky Butte was the wettest spot in the county, receiving 10.48 inches of rain over 48 hours as of Tuesday morning.
Here were the 48-hour rainfall totals for the following locations in SLO County, according to the Weather Service:
- Rocky Butte: 10.48 inches of rain
- Las Tablas (just south of Lake Nacimiento): 6.60 inches
- Los Osos: 4.50 inches
- Eastern Santa Margarita: 6.92 inches
- Western Santa Margarita: 9.24 inches
- Black Mountain (along Highway 46 west of Templeton): 9.24 inches
- Cambria: 4.54 inches
- Atascadero: 5.24 inches
- Lopez Lake: 6.53 inches
- Arroyo Grande: 7.05 inches
- Cal Poly SLO: 6.80 inches
- Templeton: 5.78 inches
- Davis Peak (north of Avila Beach): 3.70 inches
- Paso Robles: 2.10 inches
- Shandon: 2.60 inches
- Carrizo Plain: 1.79 inches
This story was originally published January 10, 2023 at 9:45 AM.
