Santa Barbara Pounded by Rain Amid Flash Flood Warning

[Updated: Thu., Dec. 21, 2023, 12:04pm]

Rainwater sluiced down driveways and streets, ponding in any low spot during heavy rainfall Thursday morning in Santa Barbara. Flash flood warnings blared around 9 a.m. over the dangers of rising waters along creek channels and low spots. Cars and trucks were on the roads and bridges, regardless of the county’s Office of Emergency Management’s warning to “turn around, don’t drown,” plowing through the standing water.

A couple of county transportation workers probed beneath a foot and a half of muddy water on Mission Canyon Road as a nearby neighbor showed them where a clogged drain was likely to be. The rapidly passing vehicles added wakes to the water rushing down toward the creek. With the exception of the two men, said the resident, who declined to give his name, the city and county were useless in the area, which is where their jurisdictions meet.

As much as an inch and a half of rain fell in one hour at Santa Barbara City College this morning, the National Weather Service reported. By noon, that was eclipsed by the 2.1 inches that hit SBCC later in the morning. The city surpassed records set in 1995 for rainfall intensity, reported Lael Wageneck of county Public Works, reaching 1.93 inches in one hour and 2.83 inches in two hours today.

The county’s hydrology map shows 4.8 inches at San Marcos Pass from the current storm and about 1.5 inches at Figueroa Mountain by about 10:30 a.m.

Santa Barbara County is expected to receive the heaviest rainfall of this storm, the NWS predicted. The potential exists for about a half inch per hour during heavy cloud bursts. Another one to three inches of rain is likely through the evening.

Roads in the county have not flooded badly so far, with the exception of Black Road outside Santa Maria, which was closed overnight, Wageneck said, and Jalama Road and Padaro Lane in spots. As well, the downpour in Goleta caused Atascadero and Maria Ygnacio creeks to rise and breach the berm between Goleta Slough and the ocean.

Whenever it rains hard in Santa Barbara, the gutters and storm drains fill fast. Around the city, barricades are up to mark some of the big pools of water that are collecting. Currently, the Mission Street and State Street underpasses are closed, as is the northbound Laguna Street off-ramp, according to the city’s Public Works department. The deeper dips of the Eastside are filling with water, as are waterfront areas, parts of the Westside, and all of Gutierrez Street.

If drivers encounter standing water, the advice is to take a higher route.

The rain clouds are expected to push eastward toward Ventura, Los Angeles, and San Diego counties overnight, with the National Weather Service predicting a dry Saturday and blue skies possibly to the day after Christmas. The chance of rain returns next Wednesday and Thursday.