Friday morning's intense downpour produced flash flooding along Corral Creek, near Refugio State Beach, causing "extensive damage" to a pair of historic adobes built by Ygnacio Ortega, said Mark Tautrim, a nearby farmer whose family is distantly related.
Tautrim was tending to his own property, located in nearby Venadito Canyon, when the downpour peaked. He drove eastward on Calle Real to check Corral Canyon, which is owned by Exxon, when he saw the damaged adobes. "It looked like one of them had gone down the creek," he said. "I just saw roof pieces in the water."
The Orella Adobes, as they're called, were part of the original Rancho Cañada del Corral owned by Jose Francisco Ortega, founder of the Santa Barbara Presidio. Ownership passed to Bruno Orella and his wife Mercedes Gonzalez y Guevara in 1866.