About 25 miles south of Santa Barbara, La Conchita, a small town along U.S. 101, is now under a year-round evacuation warning. Tom Fuller has lived in La Conchita for more than three decades. He raised two children here and says not even a permanent evacuation warning would force him to leave. “You want to mark those areas as hazardous. But you don’t completely devastate an entire town, our property values, our ability to get insurance,” Fuller said.
The steep coastal bluffs above La Conchita have a long history of debris flows and ground movement. Catastrophic landslides in 1995 and 2005 killed 10 people. As a result, Ventura County now classifies La Conchita as a year-round evacuation warning area, citing unpredictable geologic conditions. Officials say the terminology aligns with statewide evacuation language and does not reflect a sudden increase in danger.
Fuller, who lived through both disasters, says the warnings go too far. He points to the unusual rainfall events that triggered the previous mudslides. “If you can see that big bowl...that’s one of the original slides,” he said, gesturing to the hillside.
Jack Oren, who has lived in La Conchita for 55 years, shares Fuller’s perspective. “We didn’t have any warnings. Since the ’95 mudslide, they put up a wall on Vista Del Rincon, a giant wall that was supposed to hold the soil back, but it didn’t,” Oren said. “I think it’s excessive. I think in the winter when we’ve had a lot of rain, maybe. But not year-round.”
County officials say some earth-grading or stabilization work could reduce the risk of future slides, but much of the land is privately owned.
Despite the history and ongoing concerns, Fuller and Oren maintain they do not feel in immediate danger. Ventura County emergency officials emphasize the warning is intended to protect residents because of the unpredictable stability of the hillside.
