Rain, rain, go away!

More questions about people’s powers of prognostication…last week I mentioned the fact that Lake Cachuma was sitting pretty much at 100% capacity in anticipation of yet more spring storms:

A series of spring storms through the month of March raised concern here locally about needing to repeat last year’s spills. It appears though that will not be necessary…

Well, apparently both Mr. McCracken at the Bureau of Reclamation, which oversees operations at Cachuma’s Bradbury Dam and I were very much incorrect: Releases from Cachuma began at 8 p.m. Monday, but were being done slowly to minimize problems downstream, said Kate Rees, a general manager for the Cachuma Operations and Maintenance Board.

Bradbury Dam, which forms Lake Cachuma, has a spillway elevation of 752.47 feet, and the reservoir's current elevation is 752.64 feet.

“Yes, we are spilling water, but the top of the dam is higher than the storage level and we let it out with a controlled release. We are trying to maintain 752.50 acre feet of water, so we have replenished all water supply and replenished our accounts for fishery purposes,” Rees said.

The release coupled with continuing rain has prompted a warning for Lompoc residents to stay away from the Santa Ynez river, especially in the low-lying areas where it approaches the Pacific Ocean:

Fire Department officials said they expected the river water level in and around Lompoc to rise to 12 feet by midnight Tuesday, which is three feet from its flood-stage level of 15 feet.

“My biggest concerns are the people being attracted to the river because of the large volumes of water,” said Fire Battalion Chief Stan Hart. “We want people to stay away from the banks. It's just a dangerous environment.”

The Fire Department also said flooding could occur in the lower elevations near the U.S. Penitentiary.

The warnings seemed to have caught local’s attention. At least one visitor today came via that search…