Coverage of the storms that hit Santa Cruz County in January 2023 and the cleanup and recovery efforts that have followed.
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Gov. Gavin Newsom in March said state relief would soon help flood victims who don’t qualify for federal emergency...
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The Santa Cruz City Council directed staff to move forward with developing a vision for West Cliff Drive as it faces...
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Storm Recovery Updates
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Monterey County officials said the Pajaro River breached around midnight Friday about 3 miles upstream from Pajaro,...
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The wet weather has delayed the plans to reopen Highway 9 in the Ben Lomond area on Saturday. Crews have not been able...
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For nearly two months, dozens of Caltrans crew members have tirelessly worked in the Santa Cruz Mountains to reopen even...
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The pier that has connected the SS Palo Alto — aka the Cement Ship — to the shore at Seacliff State Beach will be...
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Closed for more than a month by a mudslide between lower Glen Arbor Road and Holiday Lane in Ben Lomond, Highway 9...
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The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors recently approved the latest Water Resources Status Report, and while the...
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January’s storms have delayed work on Highway 1 and the Coastal Rail Trail, while roads, walkways, bridges and more...
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It’s a mix of immediate and long-term fixes for the San Lorenzo Valley Water District as it continues to struggle with...
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If anyone knows what goes into calculating the cost of natural disasters, it’s Adam Smith, an applied climatologist with...
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The timelines vary for Capitola Village restaurants’ reopening, but the work is under way, and some look to open within...
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The Community Foundation Santa Cruz County issued $100,000 in small business grants to food service businesses that have...
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Still waiting for $68 million in FEMA reimbursements from the pandemic and CZU fire, Santa Cruz County has had to take...
Santa Cruz Storm Coverage
Cul-de-sacs and long-term erosion: Citizens, city staff take up gnarly issues of ‘saving West Cliff’
Cul-de-sacs and long-term erosion: Citizens, city staff take up gnarly issues of ‘saving West Cliff’
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The City of Santa Cruz’s first in-person community meeting about the future of West Cliff Drive on Thursday showed some...
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The City of Santa Cruz will host a community meeting Thursday about the status of West Cliff Drive repairs and the...
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The crew manning the Santa Cruz Harbor dredge was tasked with keeping the harbor mouth clear from excessive storm debris...
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A stretch of West Cliff Drive between Woodrow Avenue and Columbia Street was converted to one-way in January. Since...
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The Newell Creek pipeline connects the Graham Hill Water Treatment Plant to the Loch Lomond Reservoir, the main water...
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Santa Cruzans could soon see West Cliff Drive become a one-way street all the way from Bay Street to Woodrow Avenue as...
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Even as politicians from President Joe Biden on down flocked to tour storm-ravaged areas of Santa Cruz County, Fred...
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Santa Cruz citizens and neighbors are summoning new energy and vision to “Save West Cliff.” The iconic 2.7-mile...
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The city has finished emergency repairs to West Cliff Drive and the San Lorenzo River levee. As design plans for final...
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Evan Morrison’s four-month-old Santa Cruz Free Guide, which has been running the Safe RV Parking program at the Armory,...
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West Cliff Drive took the brunt of the damage within the City of Santa Cruz, which means that it will be the main focus...
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Storm Central keeps you updated as we watch, wait and assess. Check back here as Lookout correspondents reach out across...
Mid-County Storm Coverage
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Taylor Reinhold, leader of Made Fresh Crew and the director of the landmark “Sea Walls” murals project in Santa Cruz,...
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“We had a small budget to work with so we had to do a lot of our own work,” owner Dominick King said of getting My Thai...
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After getting pounded inside and out by storm surge in January, Zelda’s on the Beach is back seven days a week at its...
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“When a disaster comes, chefs have a great opportunity to step up and help out the community,” Anthony Kresge said of...
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Chuck Hammers, owner of Pizza My Heart, got an inside view of our government last week, when he sat near Jill Biden,...
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After wowing Santa Cruz County audiences just before January’s storm barrage hit, Mendocino-based Flynn Creek Circus is...
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Santa Cruz County was so worried about damaging floods harming the Old Mill Estates mobile home park that a 1990 master...
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Are you really from Santa Cruz County if you don’t have at least one Pizza My Heart tee? The chain’s latest is part of...
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With more than 100 employees unable to return to work due to prolonged restaurant closures, chefs from Reef Dog Deli,...
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The president, notorious for his love of ice cream, did indeed sample a Santa Cruz favorite, and his team also chowed...
South County Storm Coverage
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As of Friday, 17 people remained at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds shelter that opened to accommodate residents...
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The Pajaro River levee breach caused extensive water damage to all 10 of Pajaro Middle School’s buildings, including...
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More aid to the residents of Pajaro is being patched together, but the gaps in help and communication are complicating...
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Watsonville resident Takashi Mizuno is worried about his neighbors in Pajaro, many of whom lost everything to the storms...
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Isabelle Tuncer, executive director of nonprofit organization El Sistema Santa Cruz, spoke with Lookout about being...
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U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla and Rep. Jimmy Panetta visited the banks of the Pajaro River on Wednesday in an effort to get the...
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Eloy Ortiz, special-projects manager for Regeneración Pajaro Valley Climate Action, has tried to help farmworkers and...
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More than 400 students from Pajaro Middle School are now learning in makeshift classroom setups at Watsonville’s...
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Close to 200 people marched through Pajaro on Thursday to the bridge separating the Monterey County agricultural town...
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The failure of the Pajaro River levee on March 11, putting 33,000 people under evacuation orders or warnings and...
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Watsonville’s Fruition Brewing will be the scene Sunday as Pajaro Valley Pride puts on a drag and burlesque show as part...
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In this edition of In the Public Interest, Christopher Neely outlines some of the many challenges facing Pajaro after...
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Santa Cruz Mountains Storm Coverage
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The closure about 7 miles north of Boulder Creek is due to road settlement of temporary repairs made to Highway 236...
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A half-mile section of Highway 9 hasn’t seen two-way traffic since it was struck by a New Year’s Eve landslide. Crews...
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The March 21 wind event that “sounded like death” left homes and property damaged throughout the Santa Cruz Mountains,...
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Road closures and power outages have been a near-constant fact of life in the San Lorenzo Valley since the parade of...
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Caltrans says crews are working to clear mudslides and repair storm damage to Highway 9 in the Ben Lomond area and...
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The power went out in Felton during storms that hit the community around 1 a.m. on Jan. 8. Pacific Gas & Electric crews...
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Daniel DeLong lives in the Santa Cruz Mountains, where packing a chainsaw is often just part of mountain life. His young...
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Just days after a first New Year’s Eve storm rendered Lompico resident Benjamin Short’s home uninhabitable, his...
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“First thing is to do your best to dry out your property and stabilize it. Be safe, and recognize that most people are...
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No, Abe Lincoln never got to fulfill his wish to visit Santa Cruz, but Benjamin Harrison and Teddy Roosevelt, marveling...
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Lookout wants to hear stories about Santa Cruz County residents helping each other during the storm siege that began New...
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