Post-Storm Pix?

[SBitz]

We got a short flight Friday while the air was fairly clear from the rain and subsequent wind.

[SBitz]

Some of our pix are just stunning, and this may be my fav. I've just sent a few smaller ones to Edhat, so maybe they'll show up in tomorrow's items there. Shall I post more here? Anyone curious how the debris basins we saw were looking, for comparison with the ones we got just as the first rain began?

[DS]

Beautiful! Yes, please do post the full-res versions of the others! I love zooming in and perusing all the small details of your photos, and already found a few things I've never noticed before from the ground.

[SBitz]

Thanks for your encouragement. I finally have a few minutes, so I'll process and post a few pix.

[SBitz]

Here's a look at debris clearing in upper San Ysidro Creek.

I've circled two active digging machines in white. There seem to be several basins dug along the channel, and the lower is biggest. Also most developed, with concrete covering the "spillway" so it can handle a bigger onslaught in case of another deluge. The whole channel is also dug out deeply, so unless it plugged unpredictably with boulders it could easily handle a massive flow.

[SBitz]

Here's the large debris basin NW of Carp.

They've removed the tangle of steel beams that had been next to the curved spillways. I'd been wondering where it came from, and on this flight we could see that there had been a bridge across the creek. You can just make out the spot at top-left, where the road crossed the creek. They've also of course removed even more debris, boulders and mud from the basin. There appear to be sub-basins both above and below the main basin too. This is very reassuring, because the burnt drainage to that creek is massive and completely devoid of vegetation. The flood preparations are truly inspiring from the air. It's difficult to imagine the County getting enough acreage in Montecito to build such excellent protective flood & debris control measures.

[SBitz]

We're very hopeful that Casa de Maria will make the difficult journey back to full recovery. Every time we fly past, we're happy to see how much progress has been made.

From this vantage point, the chapel looks great. They've excavated down to the foundations of the office and main meeting room and apparently shored up the cafeteria and rooms next to the chapel. The pool and tennis court looks salvageable. I haven't checked to see if there are any events going on at Casa, but maybe someone here knows?

[doublej]

Terrific images as usual, Quite a bit has been done, hope they pump out the pool again, just thinking of Mosquitoes.