Santa Cruz County’s Department of Community Development & Infrastructure has launched a new dashboard for tracking and seeing the progress of repairs to county-maintained roads that have been damaged by severe storms over the past nine years.
Storm Recovery Updates
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Capitola Wharf has soft opening as new features are added
The restored Capitola Wharf held a soft opening last week, a year and a half after a storm surge destroyed a large middle section. A community work day party is planned for Saturday, Sept. 7, to install extra features purchased through a fundraising campaign.
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No atmospheric river after all: Santa Cruz County to face milder rainstorm this week
Santa Cruz County residents can still expect rain this week, but the atmospheric river label won’t be applied to this weather system anymore, as it never quite drew moisture from the tropical source that so often spurs the intense winter storms.
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Hundreds ordered to evacuate as Pajaro River breaches its levee in Monterey County
Monterey County officials said the Pajaro River breached around midnight Friday about 3 miles upstream from Pajaro, displacing around 1,700 residents in the community just across the Santa Cruz County line. The river hit 29.23 feet overnight Saturday, its highest level since January 1997. The California National Guard said it helped rescue 56 people from the floodwaters.
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Rainy weather delays Highway 9 reopening in Ben Lomond
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.
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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.
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Seacliff State Beach pier to be demolished; public farewell set for Saturday
The pier that has connected the SS Palo Alto — aka the Cement Ship — to the shore at Seacliff State Beach will be demolished later this month after January’s storms rendered it unsalvageable, according to California State Parks. A public farewell will be held Saturday at the Aptos landmark.
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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.
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Preparing for ‘weather whiplash’ focus of county’s latest water resources status report
The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors recently approved the latest Water Resources Status Report, and while the report comes out every year, this one focused heavily on preparing for the effects of climate change and “weather whiplash,” which includes heavy rains like the storm systems that hit in January.
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Road, transit projects face delays and millions in storm damage, but rail trail avoids major impact
January’s storms have delayed work on Highway 1 and the Coastal Rail Trail, while roads, walkways, bridges and more Santa Cruz County infrastructure got hit hard. It could cost nearly $60 million in total, the Regional Transportation Commission estimates.