Streets already flooding amidst early hours of Santa Barbara County rain storm

Rain started falling in Santa Barbara at around 7 a.m. this morning, quickly escalating into a downpour. Lightning and thunder followed within minutes, startling many people out of bed. While the worst of the storm will hit today, rain is expected to continue through Thursday and Friday. Over the next 24 hours, forecasters have predicted at least 2 inches of rain. In classic Santa Barbara fashion, flooding will inevitably follow. 11:09 a.m. According to the CHP, a traffic collision caused an SUV to spin out, landing on nearby train tracks and is not blocking the railroad. It is along the southbound lane of 101 Highway by Refugio state beach. 10:35 a.m. The National Weather Service issued a flood advisory for Santa Barbara County early this morning until 7:33 p.m. tonight. Rain will dump at a rate of 0.5 inches to 1 inch per hour throughout the day. Small stream flooding is expected in urban, low-lying and poor drainage areas, according to the NWS report. 9:30.