bmacdon

My condolences to all those affected in any way by the devastating mudslides. I just booked a flight from Canada to Santa Barbara on Feb 7 in order to visit friends in Nipomo. I hadn't realized that the mudslides affected portions of SB when I booked and it sounds as if the clean-up could take weeks. I have 24 hours to cancel my flight without penalty; I'm wondering if I should rebook to fly into San Jose?

tomfuller

By Feb 7 thing should be back to "near normal". https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/14/u...ghway-101.html
US101 is currently closed from downtown Santa Barbara to Carpenteria (about 7 miles). Northbound 101 has not been closed north of Santa Barbara.
Amtrak service on the Pacific Surfliner trains is still operating from SLO south to at least Los Angeles.

bmacdon

Thanks tomfuller. I noted that SB Municipal airport is well north of SB city centre and presumably that area is not affected by road hazards etc (as you mentioned). What does SBO stand for?

tomfuller

SLO=San Luis Obispo It is the northern terminus for the Pacific Surfliner trains. The Surfliners go through Los Angeles all the way to San Diego. The Amtrak Coast Starlight was actually early into Los Angeles tonight.
The Santa Barbara airport is actually closer to Goleta and the UCSB campus.

bear900

I believe you're okay. If you check the Caltrans website the 101 closure is from Milpas Street (East Beach area) to the Ventura County line basically. You're well north of Milpas. Should be smooth sailing. You're visiting my neck of the woods. Been warm here but cooling down next week.

bmacdon

OK, that makes things clearer now; thank you. I'm actually thinking I may take Amtrak up to Guadalupe or Grover Beach and rent a car up there. I'm wondering if it would be necessary to make an Amtrak reservation? I would be boarding the 5:44 pm train. Would there still be a large number of commuters going north of SB on a Wednesday evening?

lynni

Right now Amtrak in our area is standing room only due to commuters getting between Ventura and Saanta Barbara. Cal Trans has promised to make an announcement about the 101 reopening in the next 24 hours. There has been talk that if the 101 does not reopen they may restrict train and ferry to those who have certain jobs that are needed or to students who need to get to school.
i think your idea of flying into SBA and driving North is MUCH better than Idea of Amtrak. Until the 101 reopens I would strongly advise avoiding Amtrak at all costs. Also, there are no car rental agencies in Guadalupe or Grover Beach. Please stick with your plan of flying into Santa Barbara.
Tomfuller: please do not encourage anyone to take Amtrak on the Central Coast until the 101 is open!!! Right now you have no idea... they have added extra trains... yes for commuters to get to their jobs NOT for vacationers! If the 101 stays closed for much longer they will be limiting who can even take the train and if you continue with this advice you will simply be misleading people into a miserable trip! Please stop.

tomfuller

Confirm your car rental at the Santa Barbara airport. If and only if there are no cars to rent, take a taxi to the Goleta Amtrak station. Take the #777 Surfliner all the way to SLO where you can rent a car the next day.
The #777 leaves Goleta at 5:56PM . It is nearly 9PM before it arrives in San Luis Obispo. The #777 will be heavily used from Irvine north to Santa Barbara or maybe Goleta but there should be seats available for the northern section.
The Pacific Surfliner seats are UNRESERVED so I can understand a standing room only situation.
You can always buy tickets on Amtrak.com . You can print them out on your computer printer or you can have the Q code show up on your smartphone for the Conductor to scan with his/her device.
lynni, have you ever ridden a full Pacific Surfliner train? I have. I saw nothing on the Amtrak website about who can use the UNRESERVED seats on the Surfliner trains.
For now at least, Amtrak tickets will be honored on Metrolink trains in areas served by Metrolink.

Jean

This is a much bigger story than most people outside of California are hearing about. The aftermath of the mudslides will be felt in this area for several months.

"Buried in Mud, Montecito Faces a Daunting Cleanup With No End in Sight"

Buried in mud, Montecito faces a daunting cleanup with no end in sight - LA Times

lynni

yes, I have been a rider many times. Have you been in Santa Barbara or Montecito this week? Have you read the reports that the trains are having delays of up to 45 minutes or more? Do you realize that over 2000 people are still looking for bodies in mud that is up to 10 deer deep in places? This is a disaster and guess what... there is more rain coming this week! This isn’t over and telling someone to take the train when her plan to fly into SB and drive north was just fine is irresponsible. You simply have no idea what is happening here right now.

lynni

Thank you for posting this jean. Right now it seems to only impact our little area but if the 101 remains closed for any length of time it will start getting more attention. Cal Trans has promised a new estimate soon. The reality is that they first have to get all of the mud off the road and then assess the damage and then make the repairs. They are working around the clock but I personally believe it will be a few weeks before it is open. Also with more rain coming they are cautious about more possible flooding. The entire rainy season is now a huge danger.

janisj

yom PLEASE stop advising this OP or anyone else to take trains anywhere between SF and LA for the time being. They are having more than enough problems w/o dealing w/ random tourists clogging up the works. Even up here in Sacramento we've been impacted (minor compared to SB) since they took several Capitol Corridor engines/cars off line up here and moved them down south for the emergency. So Sac/SF/SJ commuters have to stand all the way on may trains.

So please stop it OK . . .

AustinTraveler

Yes, it makes no sense at all to fly into Santa Barbara and then take a train to San Luis Obispo just to rent a car and drive back to Nipomo! Just rent a car at the airport in Santa Barbara and drive the one hour to Nipomo.

clarkgriswold

"This is a much bigger story......"

Yes and it could get a lot worse. This was just the first rain of the season, February could bring a lot more. I haven't heard much about preparations to protect Montecito, Summerland , Ojai and Carpinteria from what comes next, but I guess they have their hands full just dealing with the present situation.

At any rate, if you are traveling on Feb 7th, you'll have to check back on Feb 6th for an update on slides etc. There could be a new slide north of SB by then thanks to the Whittier Fire which affected a different area than the Thomas Fire.

janisj

That should be tom (saw it too late to edit)

Jean

If it was me, I'd skip SB altogether and fly into San Luis Obispo, rent a car and drive 30 minutes south to Nipomo. That means missing some nice scenery north of SB (assuming the weather is good) but also means avoiding any issues relating to the disaster.

In fairness to those suggesting other options, if you aren't in California now, and esp. Southern California, you likely are uninformed about the severity of the situation. Things will eventually return to normal, but right now it's "we don't know what we don't know." Even the 101... Caltrans doesn't know where they're going to put all the mud.

lynni

For anyone interested in more detail of all the particulars, our local online news agencies are doing a pretty good job of keeping up to date information out to our local community. www.noozhawk.com and www. Independent.com are helpful and even just a quick glance will show you what we are dealing with here.

The coming rains are a huge concern. For now, some mud is being dumped on the beaches and some taken out of the immediate area. As they remove mud, more water and mud flows and the train tracks were covered again over the weekend for a short time. The situation is very dire and with more rain will certainly come more problems, it’s just hard to anticipate the level of disaster.

bmacdon

I am so sorry for all the ongoing disaster-related issues! I'm actually rethinking the timing of my entire trip; just too many potential pitfalls, including the possibility of more rain and slides. Although I didn't mention it yet; my trip was also going to include a leg from Nipomo to visit another friend in La Quinta and that would further complicate the transportation plans. Jean, unfortunately I can't fly into SLO with any of my carriers from Canada; otherwise that would have been a good workaround.

So I will hold off for the time being and wish you all the best. Thanks for everybody's input and for helping us all to better understand the scale of the situation.

HappyTrvlr

And Amtrak is also carrying Montecito evacuees to LA. Long lines and waits to get on each train.

Jean

"... unfortunately I can't fly into SLO with any of my carriers from Canada."

You can't fly directly into Santa Barbara from Canada either. The flight you booked must involve a connection somewhere.

But do whatever you need to do.