Edhat Staff
Eleven debris basins sit in the foothills above South Coast communities to capture the sediment, gravel, boulders and vegetative debris that are washed out of canyons during storms.
Source: County of Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara County officials announced today (March 20) that debris basins above Montecito have been completely cleared of 1/9 Debris Flow material and stand ready for the next winter storm. The massive Santa Monica debris basin above Carpinteria is almost clear and ready to go.
In addition, all debris basins, creek channels, bridges and public roads have been cleared of debris. More than 50,000 truckloads of mud, sediment, boulders, rocks, trees and trash have been removed from Montecito and Carpinteria.
The timing is critical as a major winter storm is expected tonight, lasting through Thursday. A Mandatory Evacuation Order went into effect today at noon for residents and businesses near recent burn areas.
The removal of boulders, debris and mud was coordinated by Santa Barbara County’s Flood Control District in partnership with the Army Corps of Engineers. Work on the massive Santa Monica Debris Basin was delayed due to recent storms; however, work continues leading up to this impending storm, according to Tom Fayram, the County’s deputy director of Public Works.
Graphic courtesy of Los Angeles County Department of Public Works
Click on the image above to view aerial footage of the Santa Monica debris basin before and after the 1/9 Debris Flow. The basin filled an estimated 50 feet deep with material that would have rushed through Carpinteria to the ocean.
I hope the county officials don’t injure their arms from patting themselves on the back so vigorously.
I have some questions:
1. Why was only 10% of the Santa Monica debris basin cleared in the first 30+ days after start of work? It did ***not*** rain during this period.
2. Why was the vendor replaced who was initially under contract?
3. Does the county intend to remove the five debris basins above Montecito / Santa Barbara as called for in the final plan? (I couldn’t make something like this up – it’s completely true – check it out).
4. How on earth can it possibly take A YEAR to replace small, two lane single span bridges on the 192?
how DARE you question the authorities!! Nobody knows how to do the job better than our authorities. Now why don’t you just shut up and pay attention to working more so you can pay more fees and taxes to support our super qualified public officials. You know, the ones who build billion dollar desal plants and bullet trains, the ones managing reservoirs that dump 12 million gallons of water, the ones who spent $137,000 on EACH red brick crosswalk in town that crumbled in six months, the ones who thought floodwaters would just magically stop once they realized they had reached East Valley Road, the ones who thought the “let it burn and backfire” policy was a good plan with the Thomas fire, the ones that sold our entire city out to developers and foreign students just to further their own political endeavors, the ones that keep sticking us with school bond measures only to piss the money away on stadiums and pet projects while increasing tuition, the geniuses who thought of building an underpass below sea level in a seep zone, the ones that thought atrocities like “The Marc” was a good idea, the ones that decided Paseo Nuevo was a better idea than Picadilly Square, the ones that thought the auto dealers on Hope were more needed than the Golf Course/Arcade and Bobs Big Boy that they bulldozed, UCSB (nuff said), the scholar who thought the 7-11 at Mission and State was a architectural fit and approved it. I could do this all day.
Simplynotmyaddress should run for mayor!! Save SB.