Santa Barbara County firefighters on Tuesday responded to a hundred-foot eucalyptus tree that fell onto Goleta’s Calle Real amid a rainstorm that has triggered evacuation orders, school closures, and flood warnings across the county.
In a tweet early Tuesday afternoon, County Fire spokesperson Mike Eliason reported that firefighters were on the scene surveying the damage caused by the downed tree, which fell across San Jose Creek and partially onto Calle Real. City officials say that the westbound section of Calle Real between Patterson Avenue to Kellogg Avenue is expected to remain closed for several hours while crews work to clear the area.
Because falling trees carry the potential to bring power lines down with them, Eliason advised the public to treat all lines down as live wires and to call 9-1-1 to report them.
“With the ground already saturated and winds picking up,” Eliason warned, “more [fallen trees] will surely follow.” Emergency officials recommend staying off the road while a flood advisory for the county remains in effect until 4:15 p.m. today.
For more on the recent uptick of fallen trees, read Ryan P. Cruz’s “What’s with All the Fallen Trees in Santa Barbara?”
[Update: Tue., Mar. 14, 2023, 2:15 p.m.] An hour after reporting that a hundred-foot eucalyptus fell onto Goleta’s Calle Real, Santa Barbara County Fire spokesperson Mike Eliason shared that another large eucalyptus tree had fallen across a Goleta roadway on Tuesday, this time onto a bridge crossing Tecolote Creek near the Bacara Resort. County Fire was on the scene as of 1 p.m. to survey the damage, and it is unknown when the roadway will reopen.
