Tag archives: 1/9

Raising Our Light: Montecito Comes Together for the 7th Anniversary of the Debris Flow
By Zach Rosen   |   January 14, 2025

January 9th, 2018, is a night that Montecito will never forget, yet nature has provided some unwanted reminders. In 2023, heavy rains, flooding, and evacuations all took place on the very day of the 5th anniversary of the tragic Debris Flow in Montecito that took 23 lives. Even now, as the community prepares for the […]

Debris Nets Cleaned and Ready for County Decision
By Pat McElroy   |   October 31, 2023

Dear TPRC Supporters, I want to update you on “the Nets” and our progress, and challenges, as we rapidly approach the termination of our five-year emergency permits on December 21. We have given the county a deadline of next week to commit to the nets becoming a permanent part of the Flood Control System.  First, […]

TPRC Ring Net Update
By Pat McElroy   |   September 19, 2023

The Project for Resilient Communities (TPRC) and our contractors and permitting team have had a few very busy weeks. After a several months long process, we are within days of securing our final permit to begin clean out of the Debris Net filled in Upper San Ysidro Canyon. The Net was filled during the January […]

The Nets: Fiscal irresponsibility and why it’s now the County’s turn!
By Jeff Giordano   |   September 5, 2023

Pat McElroy is the executive director of The Project for Resilient Communities(TPRC), and his recent MJ article was both moving and telling. It spoke to what intellectual curiosity, determination, and private citizens can do when they engage. Now, I don’t know Pat, but I do know co-founder Brett Matthews from another, more eastern-centric life, which […]

Ring Nets Support: Help Keep the Ring Nets in for the Next Five
By Pat McElroy   |   August 29, 2023

Our hearts sank when on the 5th year anniversary of the 1/9/2018 Debris Flow, we had another event. And I know we were all concerned about the level of rain potentially coming down in Montecito with tropical storm Hilary. Studies have shown the debris flow events in our community can occur much more frequently than […]

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 […]

Saying Farewell to the National Guard, and Giving Thanks for Our Debris Basin
By Sharon Byrne   |   January 31, 2023

On Monday, the County held a press conference to thank the California Army National Guard, which has been deployed here since January 12 to clear the Randall Road Debris Basin. Darcel Elliott from Supervisor Das Williams’ office had let us know they were coming, and asked us if the Guard could use our office and […]

Montecito Community Emerges Strong from Major Test of 5th Anniversary Storm
By Sharon Byrne   |   January 17, 2023

The following was written after having to evacuate rapidly, with no warning, at 1 pm on January 9, 2023, from the lower Mission Creek area, where I live. Sunday night, it was a bucolic stream. It turned torrential a few hours later and turned my street into a swift river. For the past five years, […]

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 […]