More water pours into Santa Barbara County with second atmospheric river

Hubbard said increased river flows are expected in creeks in Tepusquet Canyon and Foxen Canon and the Sisquoc/Santa Maria and Santa Ynez rivers.

Other city and county officials also advised motorists to use caution when driving Wednesday as runoff continues to pour off hillsides and from flooded fields.

Santa Barbara County Fire Chief Mark Hartwig warned residents to stay away from lowlands and areas known to be flood-prone.

“The majority of the rescues that we have in the waterways are the result of people who don’t believe that they’ll be swept away,” Hartwig said. “It’s not people that intentionally go swimming in the waterways, it’s people that are too close or that they misjudge the power of the water that they’re close to.”

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation was releasing water from Cachuma Lake and the Army Corps of Engineers and Santa Maria Valley Water Conservation District were controlling releases from Twitchell Reservoir.

Walter Rubalcava of the Water Resources Division said officials are trying to keep as much water in the reservoirs as possible but releasing enough to keep the level from reaching the spillways without flooding properties downstream.

“It’s a balancing act,” Rubalcava said. “You don’t want it to get to the spill level where it becomes uncontrolled.”

National Weather Service meteorologists said 2 to 4 inches of rain was anticipated to fall Tuesday, with the bulk of that between 11 a.m. and about 4:30 p.m. at rates of half to 1 inch per hour.

However, by Tuesday afternoon they were calling the storm “underwhelming,” as it moved through faster and dropped less rain at lower rates than expected.

Still, the rain that did fall was whipped by winds ranging from 30 to 45 mph, with gusts up to 60 mph in some areas, which made driving treacherous, especially on flooded roadways.

While it was unknown whether the storm was a factor, an SUV collided with a minivan about 2:30 p.m. at Stillwell Road and East Clark Avenue in Orcutt, said Scott Safechuck, public information officer for County Fire.

Safechuck said a woman driving the van had to be extricated and was transported in critical condition to Marian Regional Medical Center by AMR ambulance, while the man driving the SUV and the girl riding with him were not injured.

Multiple roads were completely or partially flooded in the North County.

Before noon, Santa Maria announced Black Road was closed from Stowell Road to Highway 166, and a couple of hours later, the county closed Telephone Road between Prell and Betteravia roads.

The California Highway Patrol also reported Highway 166 was flooded by 2 to 3 inches of water at Spanish Ranch about 1:15 p.m.

Caltrans put out signs warning the highway was flooded but didn’t shut it down.

Hartwig said County Fire had received approval to add about 100 personnel for prepositioning to prepare for Tuesday’s storm, including hand crews and heavy equipment, multiple swift-water patrols and vehicles, hoist capability for 24 hours and some high-clearance rescue vehicles on standby.

With the South Coast predicted to receive the most rain, evacuation orders were issued for specific properties below the Thomas and Alisal burn scars and those near Painted Cave, and evacuation warnings were issued across wider areas.

As of this writing, no mud and debris flows had been reported in those areas.

Rainfall totals as of 5 p.m. Tuesday for select areas as reported by the County Flood Control District included:

0.38 in Buellton

0.41 at Cachuma Lake

0.24 in Casmalia

0.29 in Cuyama

0.69 on Figueroa Mountain

0.39 in Guadalupe

0.43 in Lompoc

0.48 in Los Alamos

0.79 in Los Olivos

0.52 in Orcutt

0.27 in Santa Maria

0.18 in Santa Ynez

0.44 in Sisquoc

0.23 in Solvang

0.32 at Twitchell Reservoir