Quick Take
Storm Central keeps you updated as another atmospheric river rolls through Santa Cruz County. Check back here as Lookout correspondents bring you the latest.
Welcome to Lookout’s Storm Central, as another atmospheric river barrels down on a Santa Cruz County still saturated from storms that dumped nearly 40 inches of rain on some parts of the region from New Year’s Eve through the first two weeks of January.
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LATEST NEWS
Seacliff pier demolition date set; Highway 9 reopening again unclear
Thursday, March 16, at 3 p.m. — California State Parks announced Thursday that the demolition of the pier at Seacliff State Beach will begin Monday, March 20. The agency made its plans to remove the storm-ravaged pier in mid-February after storms destroyed more than half of it and left the remaining infrastructure dilapidated.
A news release from California State Parks said the work is expected to take six weeks, and that workers will try to remove all memorial benches and the lifeguard tower before demolition.
During the work’s six-week span, public access will be limited from the waterline to the cliffs Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
In the Santa Cruz Mountains, meanwhile, the reopening date for Highway 9 after a New Year’s Eve landslide rendered a half-mile of the roadway unusable has been delayed again — and the timeline is as murky as ever.
The most recent atmospheric river caused yet another slide on the unstable slope, resulting in more dirt, trees and rock covering the road and dislodge a number of K-rails. Caltrans District 5 spokesperson Kevin Drabinski told Lookout that crews need to again clear the debris off the road before they can determine a likely reopening.
“It’s not just the additional rainfall, but the water still inside the slope, and the runoff coming from above,” he said.
The agency hopes to provide the public with a new reopening date in the coming days. For now, Glen Arbor Road remains the available detour.
— Max Chun
Quick Take
For nearly two months, dozens of Caltrans crew members have tirelessly worked in the Santa Cruz Mountains to reopen even...
Thursday, March 16, at 7 a.m. — Another day of dry and mostly sunny conditions was forecast Thursday even as National Weather Service meteorologists eyed the possibility of another storm system hitting Santa Cruz County and the Central Coast next week.
In good news for travelers, Highway 1 was fully open south of Watsonville as of late Wednesday night after Caltrans crews deemed the roadway safe for driving; it was submerged under floodwaters that covered parts of the Pajaro Valley following last weekend’s levee breach.
That left a stretch of Highway 9 in Ben Lomond as the major trouble spot among Santa Cruz County roadways. The road has been closed between lower Glen Arbor Road and Holiday Lane since a mudslide on New Year’s Eve, and though Caltrans has been working feverishly to restore at least one-way traffic, the parade of storms has kept the area unstable.
The agency announced Wednesday that this week’s rains had led to more slides and further delayed reopening the key San Lorenzo Valley artery. Caltrans recently pegged March 17 — this Friday — for reopening the affected stretch, but that’s been pushed back again, with no firm estimate yet available.
Meanwhile, with thousands displaced by the flooding that followed the breach of the Pajaro River levee, Gov. Gavin Newsom toured the area with local officials Wednesday.
“Here in Pajaro and across the state, Californians have shown time and time again their unmatched strength and drive to support one another during times of crisis,” Newsom said. “The state will continue to work with local and federal partners to ensure this community gets the support it needs to recover and protect against flood risks.”
It was Newsom’s third official visit to the area this year; the governor surveyed storm damage to Capitola Village and Seacliff State Beach on Jan. 10, then accompanied President Joe Biden during his visit Jan. 19.
Though state Sen. John Laird was not among the officials who accompanied Newsom on Wednesday, the conditions in Pajaro and future of the levee there were on his mind in a conversation with Lookout’s Christopher Neely.
“The levee project is completely funded and was supposed to start [in 2025],” Laird said of $400 million in repairs, “and we just didn’t make it in time.”
The flooding “doesn’t complicate [the project] because hopefully disaster funds pay for the recent damages and the levee project moves ahead as planned,” Laird added. “There might even be a chance to expedite the permitting on the project. I’ve already talked to the governor’s office about it. We’ll just have to see what’s possible. But, like with everything else, we just have to wait until it stops raining.”
Quick Take
State Sen. John Laird announced last week that he plans to seek reelection in 2024. A second four-year term in the...
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15
Wednesday, March 15, at 2:15 p.m. — The stretch of Highway 1 just south of the Santa Cruz-Monterey county line that’s been closed since Sunday due to flooding will start reopening Wednesday night, Caltrans officials announced.
“A team of structural engineers completed assessments and reported that the bridges there can safely accommodate traffic without restriction,” the transit agency said in a release Wednesday afternoon about the freeway between Highway 129/Riverside Drive in Watsonville and Salinas Road in Monterey County.
Southbound lanes were expected to open Wednesday night, with northbound lanes to open by Thursday morning after crews finish clearing debris and making other final checks. Caltrans said it would update the public via social media (including Twitter and Facebook) with more specific timing as it becomes available.
The agency warned travelers to expect delays in the coming months as it repairs embankments damaged by the Pajaro River flooding that began Friday night when the levee failed upriver of the town of Pajaro.
Check here and here for conditions on county-maintained roads, and here for Caltrans road information.
Also Wednesday afternoon, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office lifted evacuation orders it had put in place amid heavy rains overnight Monday into Tuesday. Areas of Watsonville along the Pajaro River and in Felton Grove and Paradise Park along the San Lorenzo River were no longer under evacuation orders, which mean residents are instructed to leave due to dangerous conditions. An area along Salsipuedes Creek in Watsonville remained under an evacuation warning Wednesday afternoon, meaning residents should be prepared to leave if conditions worsen.
Find your zone and more information here.
Repairs underway to fix key pipeline between Loch Lomond reservoir and Santa Cruz treatment plant
The City of Santa Cruz was forced to shut down the only link between its drinking water reservoir and its water treatment plant Tuesday because of storm damage, raising the possibility that the city might ask residents to temporarily cut back on their water usage.
The Newell Creek Pipeline, a major artery that connects Loch Lomond Reservoir to the Graham Hill Water Treatment Plant, had to be shut down on Tuesday due to a break. City of Santa Cruz spokesperson Eileen Cross said Wednesday that it was likely the result of an accumulation of damage since January’s storms, rather than just from this week’s atmospheric rivers. Since a lot of the pipeline runs through landslide-prone Henry Cowell State Park, she said, it is particularly vulnerable to storm damage.
Wednesday, March 15, at 7 a.m. — A calm, sunny stretch was ahead as Wednesday dawned, a welcome respite for communities soaked by the recent waves of storms.
In the Pajaro Valley Unified School District, whose student population includes about 900 affected by the flooding that forced evacuation of the town of Pajaro, schools were set to reopen Wednesday after being closed Tuesday. Students at Pajaro Middle School will move temporarily to Lakeview Middle School in Watsonville, the district told parents via email, noting that it would provide bus service from the evacuation shelter at the Santa Cruz County fairgrounds to Hall District and Ohlone Elementary schools. More information on bus service, disrupted by flooding in both Santa Cruz and Monterey counties, can be found here.
More rain is expected during the coming weekend, a National Weather Service meteorologist told Lookout on Tuesday, and precipitation will be “occasionally moderate but mostly light.” The mild system will likely bring no more than a half-inch of rainfall to Santa Cruz County’s lower elevations and around an inch to the mountains.
Thousands remained without power Wednesday after high winds Tuesday that included a 97-mph gust on Mount Umunhum, just over the Santa Clara County line. PowerOutage.us estimated 2,974 Pacific Gas & Electric customers in the dark in Santa Cruz County as of 7 a.m. Wednesday; get more information and restoration estimates via PG&E’s outage map here.
And in road closures, Highway 1 remained shut just south of the Santa Cruz-Monterey county line after it flooded following the Pajaro River levee breach; Highway 152 remained closed from Watsonville to the Santa Clara County line. Check here and here for conditions on county-maintained roads, and here for Caltrans road information.
Left in limbo by Pajaro levee breach, families struggle with disrupted lives and school
Anali Cortez stood for hours Tuesday afternoon on the Watsonville side of the Pajaro River, just in sight of her family’s apartment building on the Pajaro side.
Like the other residents of the small agricultural community, Cortez doesn’t know when she’ll be able to go back to her home and routine after the river breached around midnight Friday night into Saturday, flooding the town of about 3,500.
“It’s scary,” 17-year-old Cortez said of the uncertainties.
The flooding of the Pajaro community has left families without incomes, potentially without homes to return to and disrupted instruction for about 900 students in the Pajaro Valley Unified School District. All 420 students of Pajaro Middle School, which is located in the town of Pajaro, will be having instruction at Lakeview Middle School for likely the rest of the year because of flooding damages at Pajaro Middle, according to Superintendent Michelle Rodriguez.
At a Tuesday news conference, Monterey County spokesperson Nicholas Pasculli said flooded areas in Pajaro remain under evacuation orders, and that there is no clear-cut timeline for when homes could be repopulated.
TUESDAY, MARCH 14
Where we stand Tuesday evening
Tuesday, March 14, at 6:10 p.m. — Though the air was still damp and gusty winds were still whipping around Santa Cruz County, rainfall and high winds had begun to calm down, and that was expected to continue as the atmospheric river shifted in a more southerly direction than was initially expected.
National Weather Service meteorologist Eleanor Dhuyvetter said a decent amount of rain fell on Santa Cruz County from Monday night into Tuesday morning. The city of Santa Cruz, Watsonville and lower-elevation areas saw between ¾ and 1¼ inches of rain, while parts of the mountains received nearly 4 inches. Wind has been strong as predicted, with lower elevations seeing gusts between 30 and 50 mph and higher elevations getting gusts as high as 70 to 80 mph.
Dhuyvetter told Lookout around midday that the winds would slowly diminish throughout Tuesday afternoon, and significantly calm down overnight. Rain was also forecast to trail off by Wednesday morning.
More rain is expected during the coming weekend, and precipitation will be “occasionally moderate but mostly light.” The mild system will likely bring no more than a half-inch of rainfall to lower elevations in the county and around an inch to the mountains.
As of midday Tuesday, nearly 25,000 customers were out of power in Pacific Gas & Electric’s Central Coast division. PG&E’s outage map showed that the majority of Santa Cruz County’s outages are in Ben Lomond, Boulder Creek, La Selva Beach and rural areas north of the Forest of Nisene Marks State Park.
At 5:45 p.m., the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office lifted evacuation orders and warnings for zones in Felton, Soquel and South County. Find your zone and check its status here.
Tuesday, March 14, at 3:30 p.m. — The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office issued evacuation orders for the Felton Grove and Paradise Park amid rising floodwaters on the San Lorenzo River.
An evacuation order means residents are urged to leave immediately due to threatening conditions.
Remaining under evacuation warnings — meaning residents should be prepared to leave immediately — were areas around the Pajaro River in Watsonville and Pajaro Dunes and along Salsipuedes and Corralitos creeks in Watsonville, plus Soquel Village along Soquel Creek.
In Scotts Valley, meanwhile, residents in the area of Bean Creek Road were under a shelter-in-place order after the sheriff’s department reported the road impassable due to damage in the 600 and 3400 blocks.
Find your zone and more information here.
A pair of county shelters remained open Tuesday, at Veterans Memorial Building in Watsonville (215 Beach St.) and the Cabrillo College gymnasium in Aptos (6500 Soquel Dr.). Per the Santa Cruz County website, the shelter at the county fairgrounds was at capacity as it helped shelter those affected by the flooding in Pajaro and northern Monterey County. A shelter for overnight warming only was to be open from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. at Depot Park in Santa Cruz (119 Center St.).
Tuesday’s flood evacuation orders came amid a stretch that saw rain diminish briefly in parts of the county, though, as forecast, winds were picking up, with gusts expected as high as 70 mph and reports of trees and power lines coming down around the area.
The California Highway Patrol reported a tree blocking Highway 9 between El Solyo Drive and Brackney Road in Felton, and that Highway 152 was shut down at Holohan Road in Watsonville because of flooding and from Casserly Road to the Santa Clara County line by mudslides.
Check here and here for conditions on county-maintained roads, and here for Caltrans road information.
As with previous storms, Tuesday’s took out power to thousands across the region, with PowerOutage.us estimating nearly 5,000 Pacific Gas & Electric customers without power as of 2:44 p.m., and PG&E’s outage map showing a number of incidents in the San Lorenzo Valley and elsewhere in Santa Cruz County.
More than a dozen state parks and beaches were closed amid the latest deluge, including Big Basin and Henry Cowell Redwoods and the Forest of Nisene Marks state parks and Natural Bridges and New Brighton state beaches. Find a full list of closures and more information at the Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks site.
Tuesday, March 14, at 7:15 a.m. — With heavy rain falling in parts of an already saturated Santa Cruz County, flood evacuation warnings were in effect in areas that flooded during January’s storm siege.
Under a flood evacuation warning, residents are urged to be ready to leave if waters rise to dangerous levels; under a flood evacuation order, they are instructed to leave.
The local areas under warnings Tuesday were along the Pajaro River and Corralitos and Salsipuedes creeks in Watsonville, along the San Lorenzo River in Felton Grove and Paradise Park, along Soquel Creek around Soquel Village, and in Pajaro Dunes near the mouth of of the Pajaro River in Santa Cruz County’s southwest corner.
Areas of downtown Santa Cruz along the San Lorenzo River remained under an advisory, with residents urged to be on alert and use caution around the flood-prone area.
Find your zone and more information here.
Meanwhile, all schools in the Pajaro Valley Unified School District were to be closed Tuesday, Superintendent Michelle Rodriguez announced in an email to families Monday night. Students were urged to bring their computers home for possible remote instruction, with the district aiming to assess conditions later Tuesday and alert families about plans for Wednesday and beyond.
Age, drought, rodents and neglect weaken California levees, heightening flood danger
The levee breach that left an entire California town underwater this weekend is putting a spotlight on how the state’s vital flood control infrastructure is being weakened by age, drought, climate change, rodents and neglect — leaving scores of communities at risk.
On Friday night, the swollen Pajaro River burst through the worn-down levee, flooding the entire town of Pajaro and sending its roughly 3,000 residents into what officials are now estimating to be a multi-month-long exile. A second breach was reported Monday.
For decades, the levee was ignored by the federal government — never rising to the status of a fix-worthy project — despite repeated pleas, breaches, floods and even two deaths.
“Yeah, the money wasn’t there because the prioritization wasn’t there,” said Mark Strudley, executive director of the Pajaro Regional Flood Management Agency.
And as the communities and local government agencies begged for help and funding, the levee aged, eroded and, in some places, sank.
The situation is by no means unique to Pajaro. Experts say similar weaknesses plague levee systems across California and the nation.
MONDAY, MARCH 13
Monday, March 13, at 8:20 p.m. — Workers with the California Department of Water Resources were racing to finish a temporary fix of the Pajaro River levee by Monday evening ahead of another storm that is set to hit the Central Coast.
Monterey County spokesperson Nicholas Pasculli said workers were filling the breach in the levee, which had grown to 300 feet, with rocks, boulders and other natural materials to create a makeshift levee ahead of a coming storm that expected to bring another 2 to 3 inches of rain to lower elevations in Santa Cruz and northern Monterey counties and up to 6 inches in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The goal is for the added rock to stabilize the breach, stop the still-flowing water, and withstand more that will inevitably flow into the river.
Monday, March 13, at 7 a.m. — Santa Cruz County was bracing for more rain as Monday dawned, with the latest atmospheric river forecast to hit the Central Coast later in the day and heavy rains and strong winds expected overnight into Tuesday.
National Weather Service meteorologist Brooke Bingaman said locals need to be prepared for more widespread impacts due to the saturated soils.
“Any rain that falls will turn directly into runoff and hit the creeks and streams,” she said, adding that people should expect similar impacts to those experienced in January. “More flooding is likely to occur.”
Bingaman said the next atmospheric river is expected to make landfall Monday afternoon and last through early Wednesday morning, with the heaviest rainfall spanning from late Monday night through Tuesday afternoon. She expects the city of Santa Cruz to receive between 2 and 3 inches of rain, and some parts of the Santa Cruz Mountains to reach up to 5 inches.
Wind, meanwhile, will be strong yet again. Bingaman said that the coast is expected to see 40- to 50-mph gusts at lower elevations and 50- to 70-mph gusts in the mountains.
Highway 1 remained closed in both directions Monday south of Watsonville amid flooding resulting from the failure of the Pajaro River levee upriver from the town of Pajaro in Monterey County.
That flooding led the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office to issue an evacuation warning around Pajaro Dunes in the far south tip of the county. An evacuation warning means residents should be ready leave immediately if conditions worsen. An evacuation order, meanwhile, instructs residents to leave immediately.
With conditions expected to change as more rain falls, find your zone and get more information here.
Pajaro Valley schools are also feeling the impact of the weekend’s levee breach and flooding, with the Pajaro Valley Unified School District announcing that three of its schools would be closed Monday: Pajaro Middle School and Hall District and Ohlone Elementary schools.
The district also said in an email Sunday night that beginning Wednesday, students from Pajaro Middle School would be attending classes at the Lakeview Middle School campus in Watsonville.
Before disastrous flood, officials knew Pajaro River levee could fail but took no action
Officials had known for decades that the Pajaro River levee that failed over the weekend — flooding an entire migrant town and trapping scores of residents — was vulnerable but never prioritized repairs in part because they believed it did not make financial sense to protect the low-income area, interviews and records show.
“It was pretty much recognized by the early ‘60s that the levees were probably not adequate for the water that that system gets,” Stu Townsley, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ deputy district engineer for project management for the San Francisco region, said Sunday.
And despite having studied it on and off for years, in terms of “benefit-cost ratios,” it never penciled out, he said.
“It’s a low-income area. It’s largely farmworkers that live in the town of Pajaro,” Townsley said. “Therefore, you get basically Bay Area construction costs but the value of property isn’t all that high.”
The levee was built in 1949 and, according to a 2021 Army Corps webpage summary of the system, “no longer provides the designed level of protection.”
Flooding has occurred five times since it was completed, including a breaching event in 1995 in which two people drowned and economic damage was estimated to range between $50 million and $95 million. Flooding occurred again in 1997, and in 1998 President Bill Clinton issued a disaster declaration. More recently, there was a near-flooding event in 2017 and again this past January, when Pajaro residents were evacuated for one week.
But three years ago, “as part of the overall environmental justice resetting of the federal government Corps of Engineers, OMB, Congress, all recognized that if you exclusively looked at benefit-cost ratios you wouldn’t fund projects in areas that were typically lower-income,” Townsley said.
So the Corps initiated a study that resulted in a report demonstrating “there would be some value for life safety, even though the project benefit-cost ratio was pretty close to unity for the costs to equal the benefits,” he said.
And they’re currently designing a system they’re hoping to move into construction in the next two years, he said, funded by the Infrastructure Jobs Act and state money — secured by a 2021 bill that directed the Department of Water Resources to pay 100% of the state’s cost for reconstruction of the Pajaro/Watsonville levee system.
“It’s tragic that we got this just before we’re starting construction,” Townsley said, referring to the breach and flooding.
SUNDAY, MARCH 12
Highway 1 closed in both directions as next atmospheric river creeps toward coast
Sunday, March 12, at 3:30 p.m. — The Pajaro River levee breach continued to cause severe disruption Sunday as flooding shut down Highway 1 in both directions between Riverside Drive in Watsonville and Salinas Road just south of Pajaro in Monterey County.
Caltrans District 5 said on Twitter that there is no estimated time for reopening at this point, and urged nonessential travelers to avoid the area. A southbound detour is available by taking Highway 129 to U.S. 101 to Highway 156, and vice versa for northbound travelers.
“Even once the water recedes, we need to check the integrity of the roadway to make sure it’s safe,” Caltrans District 5 spokesperson Kevin Drabinski told Lookout on Sunday.
Outages were minor on Sunday afternoon, with several hundred out of power in the rural region around the Forest of Nisene Marks State Park and in Scotts Valley.
With more rain on the way, National Weather Service meteorologist Brooke Bingaman said that locals need to be prepared for more widespread impacts due to the saturated soils.
“Any rain that falls will turn directly into runoff and hit the creeks and streams,” she said, adding that people should expect similar impacts to those experienced in January. “More flooding is likely to occur.”
Bingaman said the next atmospheric river is expected to make landfall Monday afternoon and last through early Wednesday morning, with the heaviest rainfall spanning from late Monday night through Tuesday afternoon. She expects the city of Santa Cruz to receive between 2 and 3 inches of rain, and some parts of the Santa Cruz Mountains to reach up to 5 inches.
Wind, meanwhile, will be strong yet again. Bingaman said that the coast is expected to see 40- to 50-mph gusts at lower elevations and 50- to 70-mph gusts in the mountains.
The outlook for the San Lorenzo River appears better this time around. As of now, river water levels are expected to peak Tuesday around 2 p.m. at 16.2 feet — just inches beneath the “minor flood stage.” However, Bingaman says that people should take that with a grain of salt.
“Since the soils are saturated, it’s going to be a flashy response. All of a sudden we could see fast rises,” she said. “I would tell people to be prepared for what happened last week.”
Get evacuation information and find your zone here.
View the area’s Pacific Gas & Electric outages here.
See all of the county’s road closures here.
— Max Chun
SATURDAY, MARCH 11
Another atmospheric river on the way for Santa Cruz County
Saturday, March 11, at 1 p.m. — Another atmospheric river is set to hit the Central Coast from Monday through Wednesday, with the highest rainfall hitting the Santa Cruz Mountains, the National Weather Service said Saturday. The weather service warned of more flooding, particularly in Monterey County, where the community of Pajaro was ordered to evacuate over the weekend.
The NWS said the Pajaro River is expected to crest again Wednesday morning at around 26.76 feet. The river crested at more than 29 feet overnight Saturday, breaching its levee about 3 miles outside of Pajaro.
The next round of rainfall is expected to bring about 2 to 3 inches to the city of Santa Cruz and up to 5 inches again in the mountains — but spread out over three days instead of all within a 24-hour period, said NWS meteorologist Brayden Murdock.
Saturday, March 11, at 11:25 a.m. — Hundreds of residents were forced to evacuate as the Pajaro River breached its levee overnight Saturday, flooding sections of the small agricultural community of Pajaro in north Monterey County. Read the full story here.
Main Street in Soquel reopens to vehicles after washout
Saturday, March 11, at 11:20 a.m. — Crews restored road access to neighborhoods north of Soquel Village on Saturday, a day after storms caused a large section of the roadway to collapse.
District 1 Santa Cruz County Supervisor Manu Koenig said crews worked through the night on repairs that allowed vehicles to use the road. “Sit tight if you can though, as work continues and there is a wait to cross,” he wrote on Instagram.
Storms caused Bates Creek to wash out a portion of North Main Street in the hills above Soquel Village, trapping hundreds of residents.
Quick Take
A swollen Bates Creek took out a section of North Main Street, just south of Cherryvale Avenue and north of Soquel...
FRIDAY, MARCH 10
More than 5 inches of rain in Ben Lomond, more on way as atmospheric river rolls through
Friday, March 10, at 4:15 p.m. — An atmospheric river made landfall in Santa Cruz County overnight Thursday into Friday and dropped more than 5 inches of rain in Ben Lomond.
National Weather Service meteorologist Brayden Murdock said there is another spate of rain on the way, bringing more showers to the region but “not nearly as intense as what we saw last night.”
Scattered showers are expected to continue through Tuesday, though the precipitation will be more focused in the southern part of the Monterey Bay.
While coastal conditions were simply breezy, topping out with gusts of around 40 mph, the Santa Cruz Mountains saw gusts that almost doubled that. Mount Umunhum in Santa Clara County had gusts of 70 mph, and areas near Los Gatos saw gusts up to 79 mph.
The San Lorenzo River hit 20.35 feet Thursday night, Murdock said, just about an inch below the major flooding stage.
He added that river water levels have begun decreasing, and he expects that to continue. However, there could be minor jumps in the water level due to runoff still making its way downstream.
Friday, March 10, at 1:40 p.m. — Evacuation orders remained in place Friday afternoon in areas of Watsonville along Corralitos and Salsipuedes creeks, even as orders were lifted in other parts of Santa Cruz County or dialed back from evacuation orders to evacuation warnings.
An evacuation order means residents of the affected area are directed to leave immediately; an evacuation warning means residents should be prepared to leave immediately if conditions worsen.
The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office lifted evacuation orders in two zones along Corralitos Creek north of Watsonville Municipal Airport on Friday afternoon; other zones that saw orders lifted were Felton Grove and Paradise Park, along the San Lorenzo River, and in Soquel Village along Soquel Creek.
Find your zone and get more information here.
Also Friday afternoon, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office announced that President Joe Biden had approved an emergency declaration to speed federal help for storm-ravaged California, less than 24 hours after the governor made the request.
Storm-fueled collapse on North Main Street cuts off hundreds in Soquel
Friday, March 10, at 11:30 a.m. — Residents in the hills north of Soquel Village were unable to leave their neighborhood Friday morning after the storms washed out a section of North Main Street.
District 1 Santa Cruz County Supervisor Manu Koenig said the county had brought in an emergency contractor to help deal with the washout in the hopes of finding a temporary repair, but he warned that it could take at least another day to reopen access.
A section of North Main Street at Bates Creek collapsed during the heavy overnight rains, cutting off the only road access for residents to the north.
“Current best-case scenario: We reroute the water and get some gravel down to allow pedestrians to cross in the next 24 hours,” Koenig wrote on Instagram. “Residents above the washout on Cherryvale, Prescott and Glen Haven will not be able to cross for at least 24 hours.”
Read more from Tamsin McMahon, Kevin Painchaud and Hillary Ojeda here.
Friday, March 10, at 6 a.m. — Large swaths of Santa Cruz County were under evacuation orders amid flooding concerns as Friday dawned. After heavy rain overnight, waterways including the San Lorenzo River, the Pajaro River and Corralitos and Salsipuedes creeks were near at or flood stage, prompting authorities to instruct residents of zones along those waterways to evacuate.
Areas of Felton, Soquel and Watsonville were under evacuation orders as of 6:30 a.m.; find your zone and more information here. An area of downtown Santa Cruz from just north of Highway 1 to the San Lorenzo rivermouth was under an evacuation warning, meaning those in the area should be ready to leave if flood conditions worsen. Parts of Capitola Village along Soquel Creek were also under evacuation warning.
Meanwhile, an area of Soquel north of Bates Creek was under a shelter-in-place order after a washout left both lanes of North Main Street impassable.
That was far from the only road closure in Santa Cruz County as of early Friday. Highways 129 and 152 were closed east of Watsonville by flooding and/or mudslides, cutting off access to U.S. 101. East Zayante Road was closed north of Mount Hermon Road due to a downed tree, the California Highway Patrol reported, and a half-mile stretch of Highway 9 south of Ben Lomond remains closed after a New Year’s Eve slide. Lompico Road in Felton was closed after a power pole fell across the road, the county reported via Twitter at 7:41 a.m.
Get more information on county-maintained roads here and check Cruz511 and Caltrans for highway updates.
Thousands were without power Friday morning, mainly in the Santa Cruz Mountains, amid the heavy rain and gusty winds; PowerOutage.US put the total at 6,287 customers as of 6:30 a.m. Check Pacific Gas & Electric’s outage center for local information and estimated restoration times.
And with several of its schools serving students affected by evacuation orders, the Pajaro Valley Unified School District shuttered the following Friday: Watsonville and Renaissance high schools; Lakeview and Pajaro middle schools; Ann Soldo and Bradley elementary schools, Alianza Charter and Watsonville Charter School of the Arts; and alternative sites including the district office, adult education at the district office, Pacific Coast Charter School (will be on virtual instruction) and Watsonville Infant Center.
In an email sent at 7:45 a.m. Friday, Santa Cruz City Schools Superintendent Kris Munro said that Soquel High School, which lies uphill from Soquel Creek in the area under evacuation order, was closed, though the districts other schools were to remain open.
In an Instagram post, the Soquel Union Elementary School District said Soquel Elementary School, bordering Soquel Creek in the evacuation-order zone, would close Friday, as would Main Street Elementary, which is also in that zone and less than half a mile from where the Bates Creek overflow forced closure of Main Street. The district’s other schools — Santa Cruz Gardens Elementary and New Brighton Middle — remained open.
Cabrillo College officials said Thursday that they were immediately closing their Aptos campus and Watsonville center and moving instruction online through Saturday. UC Santa Cruz officials said in a campus message that classes will continue as regularly scheduled.
The latest round of storms is only adding to issues Santa Cruz County residents and millions more Californians are facing after January’s barrage; even as recovery efforts continue, Gov. Gavin Newsom has asked the Biden administration to issue another emergency declaration to speed federal help across the state:
The County of Santa Cruz has established a rainstorm call center; for more on shelters and other storm-related information, call 831-454-2285.
THURSDAY, MARCH 9
Storm shelters open across the county
Thursday, March 9, at 7 p.m. — As the storm rolled in, many of Santa Cruz’s unhoused population were scrambling to find a warm and safe place to shelter. Shelters were popping up in Watsonville, Aptos and downtown Santa Cruz.
The City of Santa Cruz, in coordination with Santa Cruz Free Guide, was to open a shelter Thursday night starting at 8 p.m. in the freight building at Depot Park, at 119 Center St. The shelter will be open until Saturday at 8 a.m., with capacity to house 27 people. No animals are allowed and the shelter is first-come, first served. There will be food, beverages and other supplies available. It is the only overnight warming center currently operating within the city of Santa Cruz.
“If someone is homeless in these storms and are within walking distance of Depot Park, they should stop in and check in with us,” said Evan Morrison, executive director of the Free Guide. “Whether or not we are full, they should say hi and we will certainly do what we can to support them.”
The County of Santa Cruz’s homeless response team is working to organize transportation from Depot Park to other homeless shelters in the region for those unable to find a spot at Depot Park and local officials will arrange transportation back to where they were staying before the storms.
Other shelters opened Thursday at Watsonville Veterans Memorial Building at 215 E. Beach St.; at Crosetti Hall at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds, on 2601 E. Lake Ave.; and at the Cabrillo College gym at 6500 Soquel Dr. in Aptos. Temporary evacuation points have been set up in Watsonville, at Ramsay Park at 1301 Main St., and at the Scotts Valley Community Center at 370 Kings Village Rd. More information can be found on the County of Santa Cruz website.
Keith McHenry, activist and co-founder Food Not Bombs, said an employee at Depot Park contacted the organization expressing anger that despite the full staff, people still had to wait outside. He criticized city officials for a lack of storm shelter capacity for unhoused residents in Santa Cruz and Depot Park’s limited shelter hours. “I am shocked that any human could treat their neighbors so brutally,” McHenry said.
City of Santa Cruz communications director Erika Smart said the Depot Park shelter was being operated by the Santa Cruz Free Guide and that the city is “just providing the location”; she told Lookout via email that the county’s homeless response team would provide transportation for those using the shelter.
Morrison said he was only given 48 hours’ notice to prepare the storm shelter and that the county and the city currently have no established protocols to open these shelters.
The Santa Cruz Free Guide has only been operating for only six months, he added: “There’s a lot to throw together as a relatively new team to make sure this works and it’s safe.” Morrison said he wished homeless advocates had raised their concerns with him earlier than on the day of the storm.
— Kaya Henkes-Power
Cabrillo College moves instruction online; Watsonville High and other sites cancel Friday class
Thursday, March 9, at 9:33 p.m. — With the atmospheric river forecast rapidly changing, several Santa Cruz County school sites made the decision Thursday afternoon to either move instruction online or to cancel Friday classes entirely.
After evacuation orders were issued for areas close to the Pajaro River, Pajaro Valley Unified School District officials announced that Watsonville High School will be closed Friday. Students in closed schools will receive instruction via Google Classroom. Late Thursday evening, PVUSD added Ann Soldo Elementary, Pajaro Middle and Renaissance High to the list of schools closed Friday.
In addition, Cabrillo College officials said Thursday that they were immediately closing their Aptos campus and Watsonville center and moving instruction online through Saturday.
Cabrillo College spokesperson Kristin Fabos said the school asked faculty to allow students extensions for assignments given that the storm might cause outages and other disruptions.
County Office of Education spokesperson Nick Ibarra said the county was also closing two alternative education sites, both located at Cabrillo College venues: El Nido in Watsonville and Oasis High School on the Aptos campus. The closures mean there will be no in-person classes. Students either work remotely or have the opportunity to make up work upon return.
Santa Cruz City Schools told families Thursday that it was not planning to close any sites.
“Our community has once again been advised to prepare for heavy rains, high winds and potential flooding,” said Superintendent Kris Munro. “At this time we are not anticipating the closure of any schools, but will inform families via email, text, website and social updates if this changes.”
UC Santa Cruz officials said in a campus message that classes will continue as regularly scheduled.
“Keeping safety at the center of our decision-making, we ask everyone to stay up to date with the weather and consider the most appropriate way to deliver instruction given the learning goals of your course,” wrote Campus Provost Lori Kletzer.
— Hillary Ojeda
Watsonville issues evacuation order
Thursday, March 9, at 5:25 p.m. — The City of Watsonville issued an evacuation order Thursday afternoon for neighborhoods along the Pajaro River and Salsipuedes Creek, which officials warned faced a high risk of flooding overnight.
In Watsonville, the area under evacuation warning included a neighborhood known as The Villages, which flooded in early January.
Local governments opened overnight shelters at the Watsonville Veterans Memorial Building at 215 E. Beach St. and the Cabrillo College gymnasium (opening at 7 p.m.), at 6500 Soquel Dr. in Aptos.
The city also established an information and reunification center at Ramsay Park on Main Street that will have snacks and water available, along with cellphone charging stations, blankets and cots. Those needing transportation services can call Lift Line at 831-688-9663.
Last year, voters approved a special property tax assessment to help pay to rebuild the Pajaro River levee to protect the area from flooding. But those repairs aren’t scheduled to begin until 2025. Now, the recent storms are raising doubts among some residents about how local officials plan to protect them from future floods before the levee project is completed in a decade.
“I feel like we’re not being taken care of, that we failed,” middle school science teacher Michelle Deering, who said she escaped her Laken Drive home by kayak on Dec. 31, told a meeting of city and county stakeholders on Jan. 11.
“I know Mother Nature can pack a punch,” she added. “But we should be completely prepared for this. I want to see the plan — what we’re going to do and how we’re going to do it.”
Caltrans, PG&E preparing for more messy conditions
Thursday, March 9, at 2 p.m. — With yet more damage and commute disruptions expected for county roads, Caltrans is working to get the roads into the best condition possible before the main rain band makes landfall.
Caltrans District 5 spokesperson Kevin Drabinski said crews are on standby 24 hours a day, as difficult as it might be: “I would love for downed trees to happen between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., but of course that’s not always the case.”
As of Thursday afternoon, said Drabinski, crews’ main endeavor is to keep the highway culvert systems clear of debris so water can drain easily, giving the roads the best chance at staying open. Tree crews are visiting areas that saw damage and downed trees in January to check for any unstable or dying trees and trim them before they might fall.
As for the half-mile section of Highway 9 rendered impassable for more than two months following a New Year’s Eve landslide, Drabinski said crews will wait for the storm to pass, then decide whether to push back its target March 17 reopening date.
“We urge travelers to prioritize their own safety and wait out the storm if travel is not essential,” said Drabinski.
Meanwhile, about 30 Pacific Gas & Electric trucks with crews were stationed at the old site of the Santa Cruz flea market on Soquel Drive, ready for dispatch to fix power issues.
— Max Chun and Kevin Painchaud
Main rain band expected to last through Friday morning
Thursday, March 9, at 12:30 p.m. — Rain has begun to fall as the bulk of the storm approaches Santa Cruz County.
National Weather Service (NWS) meteorologist Brayden Murdock said the main rain band is nearing landfall, which means that the system’s strongest winds and heaviest rainfall are imminent. That rain band is expected to last from Thursday afternoon into Friday morning.
The forecast has remained largely unchanged — Santa Cruz is looking at 4 to 5 inches from Thursday afternoon through 4 a.m. Saturday, with areas of the mountains getting up to 9 inches. The strongest winds will, as usual, be in the mountains, where gusts could come close to 60 mph.
Downed trees and power lines are to be expected, as well as a “messy commute” on both Friday morning and evening, NWS meteorologist Jeff Lorber told Lookout earlier this week.
Rain will continue, albeit scattered, through the weekend. Another storm system is forecast for the area early next week, which is expected to bring another few inches across the region, but not as much in terms of hourly amounts. “But over time,” Murdock said, “it will add up.”
What’s more, the San Lorenzo River could reach the “major flood stage” per the NWS river forecast. The major flood stage begins at water levels of 21.76 feet. As of Thursday afternoon, the San Lorenzo was forecast to peak at 23.4 feet early Friday morning.
Though the river gauge is located at Big Trees Park Road just south of Felton, Murdock said it provides a good prediction of what to expect for the rest of the waterway.
“If it’s above flooding stage at the point they give within that forecast, that’s going to be a good indicator that a good portion of the river is going to be at some form of flood stage,” he said.
An Instagram post from the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office said that areas that saw flooding during the New Year’s Eve storm are likely to experience flooding once again.
County spokesperson Jason Hoppin said that as of 8 a.m. Thursday, the county’s emergency operations center was activated at “Level 1,” which means that the county was staffing emergency management positions in the center. He said the center will remain staffed through the night, and remain at Level 1 until Friday morning “and probably longer.”
Several areas are under evacuation warning. Those areas are in Felton, Paradise Park, Soquel north of Highway 1, and parts of Watsonville adjacent to Highway 129. Find your zone here for the latest information.
— Max Chun
2022-23 water year could break into county’s 10 wettest years ever
With the cumulative precipitation of the 2022-23 water year already sitting at 39.51 inches before the latest atmospheric river’s arrival, it is poised to jump into the top 10 historic rainfall years for Santa Cruz.
Even if just 5 inches in total fall between Thursday afternoon and midweek next week — and that would be a very low estimate — it would bring the water year’s cumulative rainfall to 44.51 inches, making it the 10th-wettest year in recorded history. Given that the water year lasts from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30, there’s still plenty of time for this one to climb the rankings even more.
— Max Chun
Thursday, March 9, at 9 a.m. — With the San Lorenzo River forecast to hit major flood stage in the Felton area Thursday night into Friday, Santa Cruz County recommended signing up for CodeRed emergency alerts here. You can find your zone and get more information on flooding here; click here for where to find sand and sandbags. For information on power outages, check Pacific Gas & Electric’s outage center here. Check Cruz511 for highway traffic updates and here for information on county-maintained roads.
General storm information and resources from Santa Cruz County are here.
Thursday, March 9, at 5 a.m. — As the storm approached, the National Weather Service put out a briefing on what to expect:
Meanwhile, with stormy weather forecast to continue through at least the weekend, the area’s state parks announced closures:
Parks closed starting Thursday are Big Basin Redwoods State Park, Castle Rock State Park and Portola Redwoods State Park.
Parks closed starting Friday are Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, Wilder Ranch State Park, Natural Bridges State Beach, Lighthouse Field State Beach, Santa Cruz Mission State Historic Park, Seabright State Beach, Twin Lakes State Beach, New Brighton State Beach, Seacliff State Beach, Nisene Marks State Park, Manresa State Beach, also Sunset State Beach, Burleigh Murray Ranch, Butano State Park, Rancho del Oso Unit and Palm State Beach.