The wet weather has delayed the plans to reopen Highway 9 in the Ben Lomond area on Saturday. Crews have not been able to make progress on clearing the landslide over the past few days because of safety concerns, Caltrans engineer Jake Bradbury told Lookout.
Santa Cruz Mountains
Posted inLatest News
What goes into clearing a landslide? On Highway 9, it’s a lot of hours, people and uncertainty
For nearly two months, dozens of Caltrans crew members have tirelessly worked in the Santa Cruz Mountains to reopen even one lane of Highway 9, which fell victim to a major landslide on New Year’s Eve. Recent rains caused more debris to crumble from the hillside, leaving much to do ahead of a hopeful March 4 reopening.
Posted inLatest News
Amid continued repairs, Highway 9 set to reopen March 4
Closed for more than a month by a mudslide between lower Glen Arbor Road and Holiday Lane in Ben Lomond, Highway 9 should be back open to traffic in a few weeks assuming weather conditions remain favorable, Caltrans says.
Posted inLatest News
San Lorenzo Valley Water District digs into nearly $3 million in storm repairs
It’s a mix of immediate and long-term fixes for the San Lorenzo Valley Water District as it continues to struggle with road closures and infrastructure damage in the wake of January’s storms.
Posted inLatest News
Highway 9 and Highway 236 repair work continues with no reopening dates
Caltrans says crews are working to clear mudslides and repair storm damage to Highway 9 in the Ben Lomond area and Highway 236 near Boulder Creek, but the agency does not yet have an estimated reopening date for either.
Posted inLatest News
Storms 2023: Power to be restored Friday to 23 Felton customers
The power went out in Felton during storms that hit the community around 1 a.m. on Jan. 8. Pacific Gas & Electric crews were unable to begin repairs in the area of Pine Drive and Redwood Drive until Jan. 23 because of a mudslide, flooding, downed trees and damaged equipment.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
What NYT omitted about life in the Santa Cruz Mountains: Neighbors with chainsaws
Daniel DeLong lives in the Santa Cruz Mountains, where packing a chainsaw is often just part of mountain life. His young daughters are as familiar with the gear – ropes, helmets, wedges, mini sledgehammer – as they are with their own backpacks. Unfortunately, The New York Times reporter who interviewed him last week during the storms, was not. “That reporter omits the most important aspect of rural mountain living: preparation. And having neighbors who look out for each other,” he says.
Posted inPolitics & Policy, San Lorenzo Valley
Devastated by storms and denied by insurance, Lompico residents navigate uncertain recovery
Just days after a first New Year’s Eve storm rendered Lompico resident Benjamin Short’s home uninhabitable, his insurance claim was denied, leaving him on the hook for potentially $250,000 in repairs. It’s a situation that policyholder advocates say is increasingly common as California homeowners contend with more frequent natural disasters.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Damaged by the Santa Cruz storms? Tips from the pros on how to deal with insurance
“First thing is to do your best to dry out your property and stabilize it. Be safe, and recognize that most people are going to have a fight with their insurance companies to get them to pay for the damage,” says Amy Bach, executive director of United Policyholders. Her group aids consumers in the many ins and outs of getting insurance claims paid; here are her tips.
Posted inLatest News
Biden the first president to visit Santa Cruz County since Bush’s stop after ’89 quake
No, Abe Lincoln never got to fulfill his wish to visit Santa Cruz, but Benjamin Harrison and Teddy Roosevelt, marveling at our redwoods, whistle-stopped through.