On January 9 the County of Santa Barbara proclaimed a local emergency in response to a series of powerful storms that battered the region from December 23, 2025, through January 4, 2026.
Multiple atmospheric river–driven rain events brought widespread impacts, including heavy rainfall, flooding, storm surge, coastal erosion, high winds, landslides, and shallow debris flows across the county.
The storms flooded local roads and state highways, damaged businesses and communities, impacted state and local parks, and forced temporary closures of the Santa Barbara Airport and major highways…