A year ago this week, the Thomas Fire was in the process of burning its way through more than 280,000 acres of land in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties. The blaze had already done much of its damage in Ventura County, and was pushing into Santa Barbara County. The concern now is a different one: potential flash flooding and debris flows.
With three storms under our belts this fall, the brush fire potential in the region has dropped substantially.
In Santa Barbara County, county officials say they’ve done as much as they can to clear creeks, and debris basins to be prepared for storms.
Tom Fayram is Santa Barbara County’s Deputy Public Works Director. Fayram says they had been hoping for a little bit more vegetation regrowth after the Thomas Fire, but nature didn’t help.
Fayram says people need to be aware that even though we are approaching a year since the Montecito debris flow, it will take a few years before the landscape recovers enough to control rainfall.
He says depending on rainfall, it will take about five years before we get enough regrowth to get back to pre-fire slope coverage.
The recent storms triggered some minor debris flows in Santa Barbara County. Fortunately, the debris basins and other preparations were able to contain them.
The County has made available some high tech maps people can use to look up their address, and get a handle on potential storm related danger. While the focus continues to be on the danger potential from debris flows in, and around Montecito, there are also other danger zones in the county.
The Whittier and Sherpa brush fires also stripped tens of thousands of acres of mountainsides bare, creating flash flooding and debris flow concerns. Link to Santa barbara County interactive flood/debris flow maps: readysbc.org
