An overwhelming number of people responded to Santa Barbara County’s announcement of an El Niño webinar for Thursday, which is now being moved to a livestream event with questions solicited in advance, said Jackie Ruiz, spokesperson for the county’s Office of Emergency Management. Questions have already begun to come in.
“Everyone wants to know when exactly the rain is going to start,” Ruiz said. “We’ve gotten that one a lot.”
The program includes meteorologists from the National Weather Service with the most recent information — at least two months out from any expected bad weather — and updates from county Public Works and Community Services personnel on the work being done to prepare for the coming storms. County Fire and the Sheriff’s Office will also report on training ongoing for swift water rescue and evacuation and emergency communications.
The livestream will appear on YouTube in English and Spanish on Thursday, October 1, 5:30-7 p.m. Send questions for the panel before 3 p.m., Tuesday, September 29, here.
“The Zoom link previously advertised will remain active,” said county spokesperson Kelsey Gerckens Buttitta, “but it is strongly encouraged to attend via YouTube as Zoom capacity is limited to 1,000 participants”
For more information on getting an early start on winter prep, the county’s ReadySBC.org website contains helpful links for properties, sandbags, alerts, and electricity, roads, and other outage maps.
Editor’s Note: This story was updated to correct the day of the livestream, which is on Thursday not Wednesday.
