Southbound 101 Closed near Seacliff

[UPDATE]: Officials Reopen One Lane

Miles of crawling Highway 101 Southbound traffic merge down to one lane where Caltrans employees work to open clogged median drainage culverts that caused freeway flooding Tuesday morning. (Jan. 5, 2016)

[Update, 1:26 p.m.]

Officials have reopened the third lane of southbound Highway 101. Lanes one and two remain closed.

[Original Story]

Due to flooding and debris, southbound Highway 101 is completely closed south of Seacliff, and drivers are being diverted to a traffic-logged frontage road and the Pacific Coast Highway, said CHP spokesperson Officer Jonathan Gutierrez mid-morning Tuesday. The closure, which flooded the highway with “about three feet of water,” is due to a plugged drain in Solimar, Gutierrez told The Santa Barbara Independent via an 11:30 a.m. phone interview.

Santa Barbara’s OEM (Office of Emergency Management) expects the 101 southbound lanes will be closed for approximately four hours, and states the northbound 101 is still functional. Caltrans estimates a five-hour-long closure.