Re: RAINING CATS AND DOGS

Wizard, I remember the January and February 1969 floods really well. We had to rescue some people whose houses came off their foundations near Oak Creek in Santa Barbara. We got them out OK then one of the houses that was closest to the overflowing creek broke apart and floated down the creek where it got jammed under the bridge beneath Highway 101. It finally broke up and made it to the ocean with tons of other debris.

My friends and I went skimboarding adjacent to the creek on some downhill grass slopes. It was totally fun, but we all got poison oak really bad.

The floods also happened to coincide with a the huge Platform A Oil Spill as well as the huge surf. We surfed amidst the oil and it was a real slippery mess.

There is a great article in the new Outside Magazine about the 6 kids and 4 adults that died in the floods along Sespe Creek while they were being rescued. They were all hangin on a bulldozer attempting to ford the raging waters and all got washed off and died. I've hiked in the area quite a bit for soaks at Sespe Hot Springs and Willetts Hot Springs so the tragic story was of particular interest.