[Updated: Jan. 19, 2023, 12:15 p.m.]
Success, like beauty, lies squarely in the eye of the beholder. In the case of the six steel nets strung across Montecito creeks designed to prevent another deadly debris flow, the answer will remain decidedly undecided for the time being. “I don’t know that we know,” said county supervisor Das Williams — whose district includes Montecito — of the steel nets’ impact during last week’s torrential downpours. “But it seems like it was somewhere between successful and very successful.”
What is known for certain, however, is that just one of the six steel nets — engineered to block the flow of runaway boulders careening down their respective creek channels from Camino Cielo — was filled to the top with rocks and debris after last week’s rains. The other five were not.