LOMPOC — The Santa Barbara County Sheriff Department’s air support unit flew its helicopter over the Lompoc Riverbed area on Friday and will do so again today. The helicopter will provide evacuation warnings to those occupying the riverbed, as there is another storm system anticipated to land in the area this weekend. The National Weather Service does not expect the same volume of rain as last week in the upcoming storm system.
There are also plans to release water from the Cachuma Lake spillway into the Santa Ynez River today at 10 a.m. The release is expected to be 2,000 cubic feet per second. With this release, the flow of water is not expected to get any higher than 4,000 cubic feet per second. This is well below what was experienced earlier in the week. When the river was at its highest flow this week. it was flowing at 20,000 cubic feet per second.
The Lompoc Police Department requests that the public stay out of the riverbed. It noted water rescues are extremely hazardous and put public safety officers at risk.
— Katherine Zehnder
