Trabuco Creek area has been weathering these storms

Recent storms have brought tons of mud and debris down Trabuco Creek, at times swallowing up the Trabuco Canyon Road bridge between Rose Canyon and Trabuco Creek roads.

A crew of 10 to 15 worked into nights after last week’s rains to clear the narrow bridge again.

“The bridge has held up very well for years and years,” OC Public Works spokesman Shannon Widor said of the lack of long-term damage from the recent onslaught brought on by the rainy season.

So could be said for much of Trabuco Creek and its residents, who over the past three months have experienced multiple evacuations and road closures caused by the debris and mudflows coming off the hillsides scarred by last year’s Holy Fire.

“We have been dealing with this for decades,” Holy Jim volunteer Fire Chief Mike Milligan said of the hillside community.

The recent heavy rains have caused the flow of the creek to shift by several feet on either side, creating large ruts and eroding at Trabuco Creek Road, a dirt street that leads up to Holy Jim Canyon. OC Public Works’s crews were busy Friday, Feb. 8, redirecting the creek back to its usual channel.

Though they have been kept busy, Widor and authorities with the county’s public safety agencies said they were prepared for what this rainy season has wreaked.

Orange County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Carrie Braun said the department has been able to direct the road closures and meet other safety needs with existing staffing, using “minimal overtime” and getting help from volunteer sheriff reserves and the California Highway Patrol.

And the community was prepared, at least after the first time it had gone through evacuation warnings this season.

“There was a lot of hoopla,” Kelly Roberts, who lives by Rose Canyon Road, said of the initial concerns about what the rains would bring down the hill.

But after the first debris flow ended up “not being super eventful,” she said her family realized they will be OK, even in the face of evacuation warnings.

There still has been a toll: John Cox, who owns Rose Canyon Cantina and Grill, said people canceled three major events at his restaurant early this month because of evacuation orders.

With more rain forecast for later this week, Milligan said the community knows how to deal with the storms’ effects. But visitors maybe not so much.

Three people – “flatlanders”– drove up Trabuco Creek Road recently only to be stuck when heavy rains fell and the resulting mudflow trapped them, he said.

Braun and Widor said the multiple evacuation orders have been necessary, even if residents’ lives weren’t directly at risk.

If mudflows shut down the Trabuco Canyon Road bridge, access to the area can be restricted, Widor said. “It’s all about access.”