After a long afternoon and a tense night, thousands of people returned home Tuesday, with the lifting of evacuation orders in Santa Barbara County for the massive storm which hit the Tri-Counties.
"I am pleased to be able to announce officially that effective immediately, the lifting of the evacuation orders for the Montecito community, the Cave Fire burn scar, and the Shelter In Place order for the Alisal burn scar," said Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown.
The evacuation and shelter in place orders were lifted just after 2 p.m. Tuesday afternoon.
What was expected to be a powerful second wave to the storm didn’t materialize as predicted, giving the region a needed break.
The rainfall totals are, to put it mildly, impressive. Ojai had 6.3” of rain, Santa Barbara 7”, and Arroyo Grande 7.3”. San Marcos Pass had a whopping 17.2” of rainfall. The biggest issues from the rain was localized flooding which closed some major highways, streets, and roads, and flooded a Ventura RV park.
There's another storm in the forecast for this weekend, but the intensity and timing of it are still uncertain.
