Well, it’s deja vu all over again, as Yogi Berra is alleged to have said.
The recent heavy rains breached the Santa Maria River banks in Guadalupe (note: no levee) and again damaged the Apostolic Church at 9th and Pioneer streets, plus causing the evacuation of some 20 residents in the area for a few hours.
Over the past three to four years, every time this breaching-flooding occurs, Guadalupe residents and city officials have petitioned Santa Barbara County and 23rd District Congresswoman Lois Capps for intervention and help in getting the levee extended from the railroad bridge west. But no responses have been received from her office that indicate action.
On a radio program this week, a Santa Barbara County supervisor was enthusing over the channelization of a portion of the Santa Maria River bed to the benefit of Santa Maria residents, but noting that Guadalupe is “just at the end of the line.” Don’t the 7,000-plus residents of Guadalupe deserve similar intervention to protect low-lying lands and protect the wastewater treatment plant downstream?
January’s flooding severely damaged the 166 west extension road to Rancho Guadalupe County Beach Park. Is the county working with the Corps of Engineers or others to plan some interventions? A quick one would be to channel the riverbed from the bridge to near its outlet to the sea. Or is this just too simple an approach?
This article appears in Mar 24-31, 2011.