In the catastrophic wake of the “1/9 Debris Flow”— as public-safety officials are now calling the January 9 natural disaster in Montecito — the Santa Barbara County Office of Emergency Management (OEM) has launched a new interactive map designed to provide residents countywide with more precise evacuation information should another significant rainstorm bear down on the region this season or beyond.
Based on debris-flow analysis of the January disaster — which killed 21 people, with two others still unaccounted for — future evacuation advisories and orders will be rolled out according to where particular homes or businesses are located within or adjacent major Montecito watersheds, essentially all properties in the vicinities of Montecito, San Ysidro, and Romero creeks and their tributaries.
“We now need the public to go to this map,” urged OEM Director Rob Lewin, speaking at a press conference today at Montecito Fire Protection District headquarters. “We need to prepare for future storms. Let us not be fooled that the mountains have been flushed of debris.”