Tag archives: 01/09

Kim Cantin Writes Memoir
By Kelly Mahan Herrick   |   April 25, 2023

1/9 Debris Flow survivor Kim Cantin’s new memoir, Where Yellow Flowers Bloom, is a testament of a mother’s love and a wife’s devotion in the midst of sudden loss and trauma, with an enlightened perspective on mortality. Cantin will be signing the book at Tecolote Book Shop in the upper village on Saturday, April 29 […]

Montecito’s Watershed Moment
By Les Firestein   |   January 31, 2023

Exactly five years ago on this day, I was working with The Partnership for Resilient Communities (TPRC) to help develop a plan to contain Montecito’s occasional debris flows. Since a lot of folks are relatively new to Montecito, now is a particularly poignant time to look back at where we’ve come from, what’s been achieved […]

Janu-Scary
By Gwyn Lurie   |   January 17, 2023

In my end-of-year letter, I wrote about my habitual January dread. Or as I sometimes like to call it, Janu-scary. And then January 9th reared its ugly head. Again. The coincidence of Mother Nature’s repeat performance was, to say the least, eerie. Let’s just say this is one time I didn’t enjoy being prescient. As […]

An Anniversary to Remember
By Kelly Mahan Herrick   |   January 17, 2023

It’s been a wet and wild week in Montecito and much of Santa Barbara County, as unrelenting rainstorms came through the region, prompting two mandatory evacuations since January 4. The storm earlier this week, coming on the heels of over 20 inches of rain in the last 30 days, caused significant flooding and mudflow, but […]

The Kitchen Angels: Debris Flow at the Casa Dorinda Retirement Community 
By Barbara T. Hadley   |   January 10, 2023

Located at the intersection of Hot Springs and Olive Mill roads, Casa Dorinda was dubbed “ground zero” for the events of January 9th. The Debris Flow occurred in the early morning hours when over 200 on-campus residents were still asleep and there was a skeleton staff of less than 10. The torrential waters skirted the […]

Get Out Now! Entries from a Holdout
By Richard Schultz   |   January 10, 2023

Richard Schultz, recently widowed, anticipated a quiet, uneventful winter at his home in Montecito, California. Instead he found himself confronted by two terrifying natural disasters – first, the Thomas Fire, the worst in California’s history at the time, burning 273,000 acres and over 200 Montecito homes, followed by the subsequent mudslide that left 23 people dead. […]

Debris Flow in Riven Rock: A Personal Journey Through a Sea of Mud
By Frank McGinity   |   January 10, 2023

I’m reluctant to report on our experiences with the January 9th flood. It was difficult because 45% of our home was damaged. We couldn’t even get into our property for a month to view the damage. Yet the final result turned out to be very successful.  But we mourn the 23 people who died as […]