Santa Barbara County paid $4 million and a farming firm provided $525,000 as settlements to the plaintiffs in a lawsuit related to the January 2023 rainstorm that sent a deluge of water and debris into an Orcutt neighborhood.
The 15 plaintiffs lived on or owned eight properties on Parkland Drive, Hibiscus Court and Country Hill Road on Jan. 9, 2023, when a stormwater retention basin at the southeast corner of Bradley Road and Union Valley Parkway failed.
The deluge knocked at least one house off its foundation while filling homes with waist-high water and debris…