The Sound of a Freight Train, an Eerie Glow and an Attempted Escape
On Tuesday morning around 2:30 am, I woke up and noticed that, although it had started to rain, it was not the heavy rain that they had predicted. Again I wondered if they had gotten the forecast wrong. I went back to sleep only to wake up about 30 minutes later to the sound of very heavy rain and wind. Normally I am pleased and excited when we get rainstorms like this -- given the drought we've experienced for the last 5 years, it's usually a welcome sound. However, I could tell that the rain was coming down at a very high rate and the wind was blowing harder than usual.
At 3:45 it had been raining hard for 45 minutes so I decided to get up and get dressed just to check things out. I walked out on the balcony and I could hear the sound of the creek near us beginning to roar and a few boulders rolling. This was not necessarily surprising given the warnings we had heard. The creek was clearly well within its banks. I told Susan to get up as I thought it would be best for us to be vigilant in case the creek started to overflow toward our home. At approximately 4 am something happened that neither one of us either expected or could possibly understand.
As we looked out our bedroom window towards the mountains, suddenly the night sky lit up as if it was daytime. There was an eerie orange glow to the light and it flickered brighter and then dimmer and then just stayed a constant orange glow. This incredibly bright light was enough to light up our entire home as if it was dawn. Since it was pouring rain outside, we were completely confused as to what the source of this glow was. At first we assumed it was a fire -- but how could there be a fire at the same time as rain coming down at the rate of an inch per hour? Then we thought maybe it was a search and rescue crew nearby using a spotlight to rescue people in a flooded creek -- but how could a spotlight light up the ENTIRE sky of Montecito? At one point, I seriously wondered if a UFO had landed! Or could it be that Kim Jong Un had launched a nuclear missile at Montecito?
As we continued to argue over what the source of this eerie glow was, we finally decided that whatever it was, it wasn't a good thing when combined with an increasingly violent rainstorm. So we began making a plan to leave the house and, perhaps, drive back up to the Alisal where we had evacuated to before.
Keep in mind, this was Deja Vu all over again for us! Only 1 month before we had woken up to an evacuation warning and the smell of smoke at the same time of night due to the Thomas Fire. For the next fifteen minutes we gathered up our pets, got Bryce out of bed and packed up a few warm clothes.
As I was standing in the kitchen, going through my mental list of items to bring along, I figured we had at least an hour to pack up. Suddenly, at 4:15 AM, I heard a loud noise from outside and I felt the floor beneath me begin to rumble. At first, I didn't know what to think. Then as the sound and the vibration intensified, I realized what it was the sound of water, boulders and debris rushing down the creek! This was the leading edge of the 'debris flow' we had been warned about and it was happening NOW.
I screamed upstairs at Susan and Bryce and told them to get downstairs and into the garage. It was time to get out. I am not sure that I had ever experienced what some call the 'flight response,' but this was clearly it. The loud noise sounded like a freight train and the vibrations felt like an earthquake. Within the next 3 minutes, we were all in the car with our dog and cat and the clothes on our back -- and that was it. There wasn't time to get anything else. We drove out of our driveway as the rain pounded the windshield and headed toward the main road in our development toward the exit gate.
As we got closer and closer to the exit gate we caught a glimpse of the creek on our right about 100 yards away and we could see that it was cresting. Also, the flow of water and mud had covered the empty lot on our right and was flowing onto the main road. There was a deep puddle of mud, water and debris between us and the gate. I couldn't tell how deep it was so I got out of the car and looked closer. It was clear that we would be at risk of getting stuck, so we turned around and went back home.
The rain began to subside at around 5 am. The power and gas at our home were still functioning but the cable and Internet were out. So the only news we could glean was from Facebook and Twitter. Between 5 am and 6 am we started to get an idea of how serious this event had been, but it was really hard to get a clear picture.
Since the rain had calmed down and the creek level was decreasing, we went back to bed and fell into a fitful sleep until 9:30 or so.
At 3:45 it had been raining hard for 45 minutes so I decided to get up and get dressed just to check things out. I walked out on the balcony and I could hear the sound of the creek near us beginning to roar and a few boulders rolling. This was not necessarily surprising given the warnings we had heard. The creek was clearly well within its banks. I told Susan to get up as I thought it would be best for us to be vigilant in case the creek started to overflow toward our home. At approximately 4 am something happened that neither one of us either expected or could possibly understand.
As we looked out our bedroom window towards the mountains, suddenly the night sky lit up as if it was daytime. There was an eerie orange glow to the light and it flickered brighter and then dimmer and then just stayed a constant orange glow. This incredibly bright light was enough to light up our entire home as if it was dawn. Since it was pouring rain outside, we were completely confused as to what the source of this glow was. At first we assumed it was a fire -- but how could there be a fire at the same time as rain coming down at the rate of an inch per hour? Then we thought maybe it was a search and rescue crew nearby using a spotlight to rescue people in a flooded creek -- but how could a spotlight light up the ENTIRE sky of Montecito? At one point, I seriously wondered if a UFO had landed! Or could it be that Kim Jong Un had launched a nuclear missile at Montecito?
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| This is the best photo I could find of the eerie glowing night time sky . . . |
Keep in mind, this was Deja Vu all over again for us! Only 1 month before we had woken up to an evacuation warning and the smell of smoke at the same time of night due to the Thomas Fire. For the next fifteen minutes we gathered up our pets, got Bryce out of bed and packed up a few warm clothes.
As I was standing in the kitchen, going through my mental list of items to bring along, I figured we had at least an hour to pack up. Suddenly, at 4:15 AM, I heard a loud noise from outside and I felt the floor beneath me begin to rumble. At first, I didn't know what to think. Then as the sound and the vibration intensified, I realized what it was the sound of water, boulders and debris rushing down the creek! This was the leading edge of the 'debris flow' we had been warned about and it was happening NOW.
I screamed upstairs at Susan and Bryce and told them to get downstairs and into the garage. It was time to get out. I am not sure that I had ever experienced what some call the 'flight response,' but this was clearly it. The loud noise sounded like a freight train and the vibrations felt like an earthquake. Within the next 3 minutes, we were all in the car with our dog and cat and the clothes on our back -- and that was it. There wasn't time to get anything else. We drove out of our driveway as the rain pounded the windshield and headed toward the main road in our development toward the exit gate.
As we got closer and closer to the exit gate we caught a glimpse of the creek on our right about 100 yards away and we could see that it was cresting. Also, the flow of water and mud had covered the empty lot on our right and was flowing onto the main road. There was a deep puddle of mud, water and debris between us and the gate. I couldn't tell how deep it was so I got out of the car and looked closer. It was clear that we would be at risk of getting stuck, so we turned around and went back home.
The rain began to subside at around 5 am. The power and gas at our home were still functioning but the cable and Internet were out. So the only news we could glean was from Facebook and Twitter. Between 5 am and 6 am we started to get an idea of how serious this event had been, but it was really hard to get a clear picture.
Since the rain had calmed down and the creek level was decreasing, we went back to bed and fell into a fitful sleep until 9:30 or so.
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