Montecito Debris Flows

In December of 2017 fires burned in southern California. The Thomas fire burned in Santa Barbara County. The firefighters did a great job of impeding the flames preventing homes from burning. During the winter, this area has a rainy season. When the rain saturated the burned mountains with no vegetation to hold the soil, the mudslides and debris flows occurred causing this disaster (See New York Times article).

A map of the debris basins which are constructed within the creeks coming down from the mountains. An event similar this happened in 1969, and the US Army Corps of Engineers constructed the debris basins in the 1970s to prevent damage from debris flows. This map shows how many cubic yards of debris were in each basin from this event. Prior to this event, the US Army Corps was looking at removing the debris basins, since they prevent the passage of steelhead salmon.

 

 

 

Debris basin in Romero Creek
Debris basin damn built by the US Army Corps of Engineers in the 1970s.
Debris basin damn in Romero Creek.