This record shattering Super El Nino 2026-27 is predicted to at least double the average annual rainfall for Southern California, with a potential to match, even exceed, the intensity of the storms of 1995. In any case, this upcoming El Nino is on track to be one of the strongest events on record. Those of us who lived in Santa Barbara during the storm of ‘95 within the months of January and April of that year remember the freeway underpass filled completely with water, lapping at the underside of 101.
People were finding rattlesnakes on local beaches washed down out of the canyons by rushing creeks. Businesses and many homes in the lower regions of the East Side and lower State Street from Mission Creek suffered flooding and costly damage, with overall loss to property said to be in the range of fifty million dollars. That’s around seventy-eight million in today’s world.