Rarely Seen November Rain Turns Streets into Rivers; Brings Down Trees in Several Areas
John Palminteri
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – It was unlike anything most people in Santa Barbara had ever seen in November. Strong, intense and damaging rain for several days.
Saturday night during a massive downpour, furniture in downtown Santa Barbara was pushed down the street and pedestrians were jumping waves on State Street and Anacapa Street.
Several blocks were overwhelmed and water was above the curbs and, in some cases, getting inside into smaller parked vehicles.
It is unknown how many businesses were impacted by the water cascading down the street when it went over the sidewalks and towards front doors.
The National Weather Service says rainfall totals in the Santa Barbara area has been recorded as high as 13 inches.
This is radically different than the normal month of November.
Cars were swamped at the intersection of Cota Street and Salsipuedes Street Saturday during a driving rain. Several were pulled out or pushed out by Good Samaritans and the Santa Barbara Police officers who responded.
That intersection was barricaded off but some drivers got through. The smaller vehicles were overwhelmed by the water and stalled out.
At Santa Barbara City College, the lower parking lot by the football stadium was filling with water from a drain pipe that brought in a fast moving stream.
In Montecito, one resident said, “I live Montecito Creek and we have that experience of being impacted so we get worried – especially Saturday night,” said Jeff Slaff. “We had a lot of water around our house, everything else is good we haven’t had any flooding or anything.”
Large trees were down in the San Roque neighborhood, on upper La Cumbre, off Ontare, on Torino Street and on Elm and Dorrance in Carpinteria.
It continued with trees down along East Beach by the volleyball courts and Modoc road at Ferrara Way. Public works crews were busy with barricades and the Forestry division was out with chain saws to chop up the branches.
The National Weather Service says much of the moisture is being pulled in by a circulating low pressure system picking up a long stream of rain clouds coming up from the Pacific Ocean out towards Hawaii.
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