Tag archives: Debris flow

AHA! Co-founders and directors Jennifer Freed and Rendy Freedman are pleased to announce “Rising Together”, a free community event for the South Coast area to find support and resources post the Thomas Fire and Montecito mudslide. The event is set for SB City College West Campus on Saturday, April 21, at 9 am. It was […]

Nearly three months after launching the grassroots effort of organizing volunteers to clear mud from residents’ homes following January’s mudslides, the Santa Barbara Bucket Brigade is launching a new pilot program to further help mudslide victims.  Bucket Brigade founder Abe Powell and co-founder Josiah Hamilton explained to the Montecito Association board last week and at […]

The question being asked of real estate agents in Montecito is simply, “How is the Montecito real estate market doing?” This question comes, of course, in the wake of the recent deadly debris flow that shut down the 101 freeway for weeks, took the lives of 23 of our friends and neighbors, and damaged or […]

Going forward, Montecito home and business owners need to have continuing, affordable, comprehensive, insurance coverage. As a community, we need to speak with one voice in demanding that public officials ensure that such insurance remains in place.  Here are three of the issues that will have to be addressed by lawmakers, insurance regulators, and insurance […]

Last month, in response to a public request, Montecito Association (MA) Land Use Committee chair Cori Hayman identified the “Top 10 Issues” facing Montecito. The goal was to focus on making the village better than it was before the twin disasters of the Thomas wildfire and the January 9 debris flow.  The Land Use Committee’s […]

At this month’s Montecito Association (MA) Board meeting, Montecito Union School superintendent Dr. Anthony Ranii gave thanks to the community for the support the school has received following the January 9 debris flow. Earlier this week, the school held a special event, “A Night of Heroes”, to personally thank the people and groups who helped […]

Earlier this week, California Insurance commissioner Dave Jones announced that insurers have received 2,000+ insurance claims totaling more than $421 million in losses from the Montecito mudslide.  “Over $421 million in insured losses represents more than property lost – behind these numbers are the tragic deaths of 21 people and thousands of residents traumatized by […]

The awesome mountains above us still precariously harbor massive boulders, reminding us daily of our lost friends, neighbors, and family. Some of the 12-foot high boulders that traveled all the way down the mountain, past East Valley Road, sit like monuments to the enduring power of nature. What does the law have to say about […]

This week, eight street signs that were lost in the January 9 debris flow will be re-installed throughout Montecito, the first of 36 signs that are in the process of being repaired or rebuilt completely. “Many residents may not even notice that they are missing, but once they are back up, it will be a […]

As we roll into spring, most in Montecito feel a temporary sense of relief, anticipating that any rainstorm in April will not rise to the ½-inch-per-hour threshold needed to trigger another evacuation. Evidence is that the added protection from new wider, deeper, boulder-lined creek channels restored by the Army Corps of Engineers and County Flood […]

I have been in science my whole life, and as I age I realize it rarely has needed a Newton or Einstein; it has just needed information and common sense. As an example, I realized in recent weeks after witnessing the current hysteria over rain and flooding, there is a simpler explanation to our freak […]

At a standing-room-only Land Use Committee meeting on Tuesday, April 3, several County staff members gave updates on mudslide recovery, including Water Resources deputy director Tom Fayram, who assured the Committee that FEMA officials are working hard on finishing revised flood maps for Montecito. The maps, which are expected to be finalized in June, will […]

Montecito‘s bike and walking paths are slipping into the ocean. Recent heavy rains are eroding the bike path’s retaining wall along Channel Drive. The path is now dramatically undermined; easily viewable from the beach. In various areas, huge sections of retaining cement walls, mounds of cliff-side mud and trees litter the sand. This week, a […]

As Montecito residents recover from their fifth mandatory evacuation since the start of the Thomas Wildfire, there is a growing frustration that the future fate of Montecito will not be resolved by a “Montecito Strong” community visioning plan of our own making, but by external forces outside this community’s span of control. Fifteen weeks have […]

On March 22 at 5:19 a.m., Santa Barbara County officials issued emergency phone alerts and calls to evacuate Montecito residents. “Flash flood watch in effect for SB County. Leave now if you are still in evac/burn areas.” The County sent the alert as soon as rains started pummeling Southern California. They used a federal emergency […]

I thought our community might like to see how other Montecito residents are coping with our recent disasters. Like many others, my wife, Nancy, and I were suffering from evacuation fatigue after the Thomas Fire and decided when authorities ordered a second evacuation for a winter storm, that our home was far enough away from […]

Two weeks ago, we reported on the opening of the Montecito Center for Preparedness, Recovery, and Rebuilding, in the Orfalea building on Coast Village Circle. Last week, the newly-formed “805 Conservation Collective” set up shop at the center, adding another resource for mudslide victims to access in the heart of Montecito. “The work is both […]

Mud from the recent slides is not only killing people and destroying homes, it is also devastating trees in the community. To that end, animal activist Gretchen Lieff has founded Montecito Now, which is dedicated to the restoration, health and preservation of trees in our rarefied enclave, especially two native species, the coastal live oak […]

There are four women responsible for the attractive, busy, and critical resource center known as the Recovery Free Store, dedicated to victims and first responders of the Thomas Fire and Montecito debris slide. They are Berna Keiler, Cathy Link, Heather Sage, and Susan St. John. The store, currently parked directly across from Vons in the […]

Montecito documentary maker Harry Rabin‘s latest work, The Night It Rained Boulders, about the recent fire, flash floods, and mudslides in our rarefied enclave, has been showing on The Weather Channel. The 44-minute film took two months to come to fruition with Harry, 64, starting shooting December 4 with the outbreak of the Thomas Fire, […]