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SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The rain hit Santa Barbara hard Monday morning. Crashes were reported downtown and on Highway 101 with wet roads impacting the morning commute.
Santa Barbara City Fire Department battalion chief, Jim McCoy, said, “Stay home, stay safe. It’s the first rain of the season. Lots of traffic accidents.”
Just before 11 a.m. Santa Barbara City firefighters found themselves rescuing a man from rushing water in a culvert near Carrillo Street and Highway 101. Battalion Chief McCoy said the man tried to escape Mission Creek, but the rushing water came up too fast for him.
“He’s been yelling for an hour but nobody heard it,” said Battalion Chief McCoy. “So he was glad that somebody finally did hear that. He was clinging to a group of vines right down here. He was extremely tired.”
California Highway Patrol and Santa Barbara Police officers closed the freeway on ramp while fire rescue crews saved the man. More crews were also downstream with life preservers in case the man fell.
He was taken to the hospital cold and wet and is expected to be okay.
Up State Street the rain closed outdoor dining parklets, but didn’t stop the lunch rush.
Hilary Ortiz is the general manager of Scarlett Begonia on Victoria Street.
“We just decided to open up the Rose Room, which is our backroom that we normally keep closed on week days,” said Ortiz. “And it enabled us to seat everybody today.”
As the skies cleared up in the afternoon people made their way back outside. Some tourists said they didn’t want the rain to stop them from seeing Santa Barbara.
Dan Major came from Chicago to visit Paige Bossart, who was also traveling from San Fransisco. After the storm lessened they walked their two dogs on Stearns Wharf.
“No,” said Bossart.
“Not at all,” added Major. “We can handle one day of rain in 365 day.”
When the rain passed, crews started cleaning up the mess left behind. Santa Barbara County Public Works sent teams to check their drainage pipes. They said other than some rocks in the road, they didn’t see any problems with their drainage system.
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