It’s raining and it’s pouring, and it’s more than just a nuisance for some Northern Santa Barbara County residents. Serious flooding forced people living in Guadalupe’s lower Pioneer Street neighborhood to evacuate their homes and other buildings on Dec. 19.
According to Guadalupe Fire Chief Jack Owen, the Santa Maria River swelled to capacity, and without a levee to stop it, flooded into nearby pastures and streets. The flooding has impacted a church, four apartments, and two houses. Evacuees were sent to a Northern Santa Barbara County Red Cross shelter at City Hall.
Ten firefighters, police officers, and Public Works employees responded to the flooding. And, to ensure that the rest of the city would have a responsive fire team, the Santa Maria Fire Department dispatched one engine with a crew.
The flooded buildings weren’t deemed “inhabitable,” but the Guadalupe Fire Department still shut off power and gas. According to Owen, water levels were waist deep. Overall damages were unknown as of press time.
The Santa Barbara County Public Works Department recorded about 3.97 inches of rainfall on Dec. 16 and, as of Dec. 20, rainfall had increased to 6.5 inches—although these numbers aren’t official.
“It’s way more rain than we need,” Owen said.
Santa Maria suffered several road closures, but no evacuations, due to the rain. According to city officials, “there are no trouble spots along the Santa Maria River Levee [throughout] the city.
“The river is being channeled exactly where authorities want it directed, down the center of the riverbed, dozens of yards away from the levee, in the pilot channel excavated
by the county prior to the storms,” city officials said in a release to the media.
River flows reportedly peaked at 6,000 cubic feet per second on Dec. 20, but tapered off to about 3,000 cubic feet per second the next day. The Army Corps of Engineers and Santa Barbara County Flood Control have been patrolling the levee for any trouble spots.
This article appears in Dec 23-30, 2010.
