Tag archives: Debris flow
In Montecito, a disaster is not an abstract idea. Our community remembers the 2018 Debris Flow and the neighbors whose lives were lost. I grew up knowing that an ordinary day can change without warning. This month, I began to understand what it takes to help a family in the days that follow. I’m a […]
The Montecito community gathered on January 9 for Raising Our Light, the annual remembrance ceremony honoring the 23 lives lost in the 1/9 Debris Flow. The crowd assembled outside Montecito Union School, where speakers offered personal reflections and the names of the victims were read aloud. Twenty-three bells rang across local churches and schools, and […]
As the eighth anniversary of the 1/9 Debris Flow approaches, the January storms served as a stark reminder of the power of natural weather events and the lasting impact they have had on the area. The Montecito community will gather on Friday, January 9, at 6 pm for Raising Our Light, the annual remembrance ceremony […]
The Montecito community will come together on January 9, 2026, for Raising Our Light, an annual ceremony honoring the 23 community members lost in the 1/9 Debris Flow. The event begins at 6 pm outside Montecito Union School, where attendees will hear brief remarks and a solemn reading of the names of those who died. […]
Seventeen-year-old Santa Barbara High School senior Hannah Hedrick was volunteering at All Saints-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church following the Palisades Fire when she had an epiphany. Sorting through donated clothes and books for victims of the fire that burned down an entire community, including her cousins’ and aunts’ houses, she had a sense that she could make […]
For the 7th year, the lives of the 23 Montecito residents who lost their lives in the 2018 mudslides were honored in a solemn ceremony, Raising Our Light, on Thursday, January 9, outside in the Montecito Union School parking lot. There, with the Montecito Fire Department Engine as backdrop, was the podium for the speakers […]
As this week marks the anniversary of the January 9th Debris Flow that killed 23 of our neighbors, friends, and, in my case, my 48-year-old husband, Dave, my 17-year-old son, Jack, and our family dog, I was deeply disheartened by the column entitled Brilliant Thoughts: Bad Grief by Ashleigh Brilliant. Flipping through the Montecito Journal, […]
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 […]
Back in 2018, when the Montecito debris flows left huge swaths of the village buried under hundreds of tons of mud and other detritus, the Santa Barbara Bucket Brigade (SBBB) was all over the news. The first responders had moved on, and the job of digging out was just beginning. Nearly every outlet around ran […]
We have been getting several phone calls, emails, and questions regarding the decision to pull the six Ring Nets out of three canyons above Montecito. This week has been an extremely critical one for TPRC’s project. We are proud to be a part of a community that rose to the occasion to keep our community […]
It is with great disappointment to inform you that when the five-year emergency permits expire, the Project for Resilient Communities will need to remove the six Debris Flow “Swiss Nets” in the canyons above Montecito by December 1. Without strong local government support and budget for the six Nets that may have to be cleaned […]
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, […]
Last week the Montecito Planning Commission (MPC) received an annual maintenance report on the Debris Flow Mitigation Project. Pat McElroy, a rep for the citizen-led group The Project for Resilient Communities (TPRC), which spearheaded the installation of the six steel debris flow nets that were placed in the canyons above Montecito in 2018, told the […]
One805 was formed in the aftermath of the Thomas Fire and subsequent Montecito debris flows, when the planned thank you to first responders gathering called The Kick Ash Bash turned into the largest nonprofit event in Santa Barbara history back in 2018. The grassroots organizers quickly realized that supporting first responders could be much more […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Pat McElroy was at the Montecito Association Board of Directors on Tuesday, giving a report on the six steel debris flow nets that were placed in the canyons above Montecito in 2018. Recently, the citizen-led group that spearheaded the installation of the nets, The Project for Resilient Communities, filed an application with the County of […]
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 […]
An EVACUATION ORDER has been issued for today, Tuesday March 14, 2023, for the identified properties and areas in south Santa Barbara County associated with the Alisal, Cave, and Thomas Fires due to existing debris flow hazards and flooding. Everyone in the current Thomas Fire Storm Impact Consideration Map properties are being ordered to evacuate. Click here to access an interactive evacuation […]
