Santa Barbara County lifted evacuation orders for parts of Montecito on Jan. 23, primarily for the western side of the exclusion zone that emergency responders put in place in the days following the winter storm that brought rains and mudslides that battered the wealthy oceanside community.
“We are fully prepared to take care of those folks when they get in [the newly opened areas],” said Robert Lewin, director of the county’s Office of Emergency Management. Lewin made the announcement that morning to the Board of Supervisors at its regular meeting in Santa Barbara. He said other evacuation orders would be lifted as the “days progress.”
According to Lewin, 166 structures were destroyed during the flooding that began on Jan. 9, with another 391 damaged. He said county employees were tagging buildings to let residents know if they were safe to enter.
As of the Sun’s press time, there were 21 reported deaths related to the storm, with 28 injuries, while two people remained missing. County officials said search and rescue crews were still sifting through the wreckage attempting to locate the remaining two.
In terms of transportation, Highway 101 opened to two-way traffic on Jan. 21 after two weeks of closure. However, off-ramps into parts of the designated “recovery zone” remained closed to the public while on-ramps were open.
Lewin said on Jan. 23 that county roads were in “good shape” and added that cars would be able to use them. As for Highway 192, everything except for four bridges near the recovery zone are safe for travel. Lewin said that while the bridges were too dangerous to use, the roads in between them were fine.
“[The bridges] are going to be a difficult process for Caltrans,” he added.
In his report to the supervisors, Lewin said the Montecito Creek drainage basin was completely free of debris but that the other 10 basins were only 10 percent cleared. County staff said during the supervisors meeting that more public meetings would be held in the future as needed.
According to Lewin, residents in the Montecito area should see utilities restored within the next week or so.
“The utilities are all coming online,” he said, before adding that he couldn’t go “into great detail.”
This article appears in Jan 25 – Feb 1, 2018.