Emergency services officials in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties are sharing their concerns about the upcoming storm and what they're doing to prepare for the next round of rain and wind.
A flood watch has already been issued for the majority of the two counties starting Sunday afternoon.
“With the impending rain of 2-4 inches, with the grounds being saturated and the rivers and the creeks flowing, there is potential for localized flooding,” said San Luis Obispo County Emergency Services Director Scott Jalbert.
Jalbert says they are monitoring local creeks closely, especially Arroyo Grande Creek.
“With these next rains and with Lopez [Lake] already over-spilling, it's going to add additional water flow to that creek and it always gives us a sense of concern for that area,” Jalbert said. “We do have trigger points to activate evacuation warnings and evacuation orders if that creek rises to a certain threshold.”
In Santa Barbara County, Kelly Hubbard, Director of the Office of Emergency Management, says their concerns are for the same areas that were hit hard earlier this month.
“Street flooding and some creeks and such that were flooding, those are probably likely to be areas of concern again,” Hubbard said.
The already saturated ground creates another level of concern.
“There's still water in the streams so even though the storm isn't as big, we could have the same types of problems that we saw in the last couple of storms where we have a lot of runoff. We have street-based flooding, creek flooding,” Hubbard said.
SLO County Emergency Services say they might need to close down some roads if the storm gets too intense and they are keeping a close eye on San Luis Creek and Whale Rock Reservoir as well.
