Santa Barbara County has undertaken several projects over the last year to protect the area of Orcutt at Union Valley Parkway and Bradley Road that was severely damaged in January 2023 by erosion and a sinkhole during heavy rain.
The Jan. 9 deluge left streets near the intersection coated with a thick layer of mud, causing significant damage to numerous homes and displacing families. The County Fire Department reported that initially 15 homes were damaged, 20 homes were evacuated, and a total of 500 homes were affected by the flooding and damage.
Matt Griffin, engineering manager for the Santa Barbara County Flood Control and Water Conservation District, said this week that emergency repairs were made immediately after the Jan. 9 storm, and there are long-term projects underway to reinforce two retention basins to help control heavier rain runoff in the area.
One involves a retention basin across the street from Hibiscus Court, which caved in at Franklin and Country Hills roads during the Jan. 9 storm, directly across Union Valley Parkway.
“We are reinforcing the walls around the basin, so that when the basin overflows, it will overflow where it’s intended to overflow. There’s an opening out towards Bradley,” said Griffin. “What happened on Jan. 9 is the water actually went underneath the wall and shot towards UVP directly. So our project is going to reinforce that wall and prevent that from happening again.”
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Griffin said the goal is to have the work completed in early to mid February.
A second project aims to mitigate high flows coming from an agricultural retention basin on the east side of Highway 101.
“There is an existing farmer retention basin east of the freeway, and we are constructing an outlet structure to try to better control flows that get discharged from that basin,” said Griffin.
That project is also under construction with an expected completion date in early February.
Griffin said the area will have a higher level of protection when the projects are completed, but there’s no 100 percent guarantee. He encouraged residents to stay informed about the weather forecast and understand the conditions of their surroundings and how they are impacted by rain.
