By Monday morning, the rain that soaked Santa Barbara County through the weekend had begun to ease, revealing the scope of a storm that flooded roadways, temporarily shut down the Santa Barbara Airport, closed stretches of Highway 101 and other roadways, and claimed the life of a man swept into a swollen Goleta Valley creek — all as unusually high king tides pushed water onto the coastline.
The system capped one of the wettest starts to a water year in recent memory, adding inches of rain to already saturated ground and prompting repeated flash flood warnings from the National Weather Service. Emergency officials said the danger has not entirely passed, even as skies cleared.
Rainfall Totals Push County Past Seasonal Norms
According to the National Weather Service, the heaviest rainfall fell along the Gaviota Coast and in the foothills and mountains over a three-day period ending at midnight Monday.
“Three-day rain totals — this is through 12 a.m. Monday morning — at the top rainfall now is Refugio Pass, 5.19 inches; Gaviota Coast, 5.04 inches; Pecho Lote Canyon, 4.97; Santa Barbara Marcos Pass, 4.7; and Refugio Hills, 4.51,” said Devin Black, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. Lower elevations generally saw between one and three inches, while mountainous areas received closer to three to five inches, Black said…