Heavy rains hit Santa Barbara area

BY ERIC LINDBERG
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

Heavy rains pounded Santa Barbara today, prompting national weather officials to issue a flash flood watch for Santa Barbara County and city officials to offer free sandbags to local residents.
Authorities also spent the day dealing with flooded streets, fallen trees and stranded vehicles as the brunt of several winter storms hit the region with torrential rainfall.

Dozens of people stopped by the city’s Annex Yard on East Yanonali Street to load up on sandbags. Rick Ornelas, a city maintenance worker and safety coordinator, said as of 4 p.m. about 60 trips had been made to the loading yard since the National Weather Service issued the alert less than three hours earlier.
“I’ve brought in about five scoops of sand,” he said, gesturing to a large front-end loader nearby.
Chris Dentzel said he stopped off to pick up a few sandbags for “just a little flooding” at his Barker Pass Road home. He said heavy rains usually cause issues along that roadway, and it’s not the first time he has taken advantage of the city’s free sandbag offer.
“I know the drill,” he said.
City streets manager Rick Fulmer said he plans to have someone staffing the Annex Yard until the flow of people requesting sandbags slows down. Other crew workers spent the day traversing the city and keeping an eye on storm drains.
“Right now, I’ve got about a dozen guys out there in two-man crews checking the hot spots where debris tends to pile up,” he said. “…We’re going to keep the guys here as long as necessary.”
Fulmer said he also plans to have someone on duty at the Laguna Channel Pump Station overnight to keep an eye on ocean tides and try to keep the level in the channel as low as possible.
“It saves the city,” he said. “A lot of the storm drains flow into the channel that runs through the pump station.”
Without it, he said, the lower part of Santa Barbara would be underwater. Despite the work of Fulmer and his crew of maintenance workers, areas of the city did experience minor flooding.
In addition to shutting down a stretch of Calle Cesar Chavez near Cabrillo Boulevard that has a tendency to flood, he said workers kept an eye on freeway underpasses, typical locations for rainwater to overwhelm storm drains.
“All of the underpasses have a problem just because of their basic design,” he said. “It’s just because of the capacity of the drains.”
A couple driving through the Garden Street underpass attempted to ford the curb-high water that had gathered there and became stranded halfway through.
“I guess the water came up into the car,” said Maria DeYoreo. “It’s not stuck in the water, it just won’t start.”
DeYoreo and her boyfriend, Kamron Shafai, watched as other cars sped by, sending sheets of water arching across the roadway as they maneuvered around the stranded Mazda.
Santa Barbara police dispatch received several calls about other stranded vehicles and California Highway Patrol dispatchers received reports of flooding along Highway 101 near Bailard Avenue in Carpinteria.
Fulmer said despite the occasional incident, the day went fairly smoothly.
“This is nothing unusual for us,” he said. “This event is not going to be any more severe than the ’95 rains, it’s actually going to be less.”