shelterBox UsA president visits Ukraine

Kerri Murray talks to the News-Press about Ukrainians’ resilience

Editor’s note: This is the second part of a News-Press series about efforts to help Ukraine as the second year of the Russian invasion begins.

By DAVE MASON NEWS-PRESS MANAGING EDITOR

Kerri Murray experienced air raids during her recent visit to Ukraine.

And she was in the emergency shelters during those raids anywhere from 40 minutes to two hours or more at a time.

“I felt the fear and the terror they (the Ukrainians) went through,” said Ms. Murray, the president of Santa Barbarabased ShelterBox USA.

“It was difficult to sleep

By KATHERINE ZEHNDER NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER

Giant trees fell, the wind blew fiercely, and the rain kept coming on a Friday that saw a brief tornado warning and a much longer warning about flash floods.

Winter weather conditions continue to be forecast for Santa Barbara County through today.

Conditions include extreme cold temperatures, snow at higher elevations, continued wind, localized flooding, and isolated thunderstorms that are possible countywide.

There was a brief tornado warning Friday morning at Vandenberg Space Force Base.

Additionally, boats struggled against the choppy water off East Beach in Santa Barbara.

There was also a flash flood warning for Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, which is scheduled to expire at 6 p.m. today. And a wind advisory expired at 1 a..m. today.

The winter storm brought down large trees. Late Friday afternoon, a big stone pine tree fell down on East Anapamu Street near Nopal Street in the area of Santa Barbara High School. Anapamu Street had to be closed between Alta Vista Road and Nopal.

Up north, an approximately 80-foot by 100-foot tall tree fell at approximately 11:43 a.m., causing major damage to a residence in the 200 block of Deer Run in Santa Maria. Injuries were sustained.

Please see WEATHER on A6

Fyi

To register for emergency alerts, go to www.readysbc. org. You can eceive local emergency alerts via text, phone calls and emails.

on most of the time I was there. You just don’t know where the next air raid siren is going off,” Ms. Murray told the NewsPress Wednesday by phone from Krakow, Poland, after her second visit to Ukraine since the Russian invasion began a little over one year ago.

Please see UKRAINE on A7