Sen. Padilla is also part of tour of communities hit by the storms
President Joe Biden is scheduled today to visit Central Coast communities affected by the recent storms.
President Joe Biden is expected to visit the Central Coast today to visit areas that have been impacted due to the storms that have hit Santa Barbara County.
He will be joined by U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif.
Together, Sen. Padilla and President Biden will travel the Central Coast to survey recovery efforts and visit with first responders, state and local officials, and communities impacted by the devastation from recent storms, according to a news release from Sen. Padilla’s office.
The White House hasn’t announced whether President Biden’s visit would include communities such as Montecito. But Sen. Padilla’s office reported the president would be in Santa Cruz County today.
On Monday evening, President Biden approved an amendment to his major disaster declaration to include Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, a change pushed by U.S. Rep. Carbajal, D-Santa Barbara, over the past week in the aftermath of heavy storms and flooding across the Central Coast.
East Mountain Drive, which was heavily damaged by the stormy weather, will likely require several months worth of repairs, Montecito Fire Chief Kevin Taylor told the News-Press.
President Biden’s approval of individual and public assistance through the Federal Emergency Management Agency will allow Central Coast residents and business owners to apply directly for relief, as well as support repair and replacement work being done by local governments and emergency managers in both counties.
“I am grateful to President Biden and FEMA leadership for hearing the stories that I and others have shared from the Central Coast this past week and recognizing the need for direct federal assistance to help not only our municipal repair crews, but also the individual residents and business owners that have had livelihoods wrecked by this month’s storms,” said Rep. Carbajal in the news release.
Last week’s storms left their impact on local roads.
East Mountain Drive, which was heavily damaged by the stormy weather, will likely require several months worth of repairs, Montecito Fire Chief Kevin Taylor told the News-Press.
Elsewhere, there was some good news Tuesday. Caltrans District 5 announced in a tweet that State Route 154 is reopened in both directions at the Alamo Pintado Creek Bridge in Los Olivos.
One fringe benefit of the storms is alleviation of drought conditions with the increase in reservoir levels.
As of 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Alisal reservoir’s level was 599.9 feet, with 2,371 acre-feet of volume and with 37.41 inches of rainfall during the season.
Cachuma Reservoir on Wednesday evening was at 93.8% capacity, 749.10 feet in the water level, 181,043 acre-feet in volume and 21.21 inches of total rainfall.
Gibraltar stood Wednesday at 96.4% capacity with 1,399.22 feet in the water level, 4,526 acre-feet in volume, an outflow of 768 cubic feet per second and 34.95 inches of rainfall for the season.
Jameson is at 100.7% of capacity with 2,224.28 feet in the water level, 4,883 acre-feet in volume and 40 inches of rainfall in total for the year.
Twitchell is at 602.78 feet in the water level, 65,172 acre-feet in volume and 17.25 inches of rainfall.email: kzehnder@newspress.com
