By Communications Manager Jason Hoppin, County of Santa Cruz
Greetings,
As you all know, we were hit with another atmospheric river overnight and throughout the day. More rain is expected through Thursday, with 12 inches total expected for the duration of this event.
With flooding along the San Lorenzo River, emergency personnel evacuated the Felton Grove area in Felton, where roads were under several feet of water. Red Cross established an evacuation station at Zayante Fire Station. We also asked residents of Paradise Park to shelter in place and move to higher ground if necessary – there was no access in or out of the neighborhood due to flooding and slides along Highway 9 and the Ocean Street Extension.
Highway 17 saw a major mudslide and remains closed at Granite Creek as of this writing. It is also closed to southbound traffic in Los Gatos at Bear Creek. Highway 9 is closed at multiple points, and Highways 152 and 129 are closed. There are not many ways in or out of the County at this point. For updates on these state routes, go to http://dot.ca.gov/cgi-bin/roads.cgi.
Before today, we had about 90 county roads suffer damage during storms going back to December. Unfortunately, we added to that total today. We have (or had, depending on when you read this) new closures on Bear Creek, San Andreas, Hazel Dell, Lompico (same spot as the old landslide; new issue), Graham Hill and Zayante, where a new slide at Lower Ellen joined the existing slide at Upper Ellen. We are working on getting landlocked residents there out.
Numerous other roads remain closed at points: Buena Vista, Mar Monte, Jamison Creek, Mountain Charlie – there are too many to list. Check current county road status here (County-only roads, not cities or state): http://www.sccroadclosure.org. Our crews are working around the clock.
Our EOC is currently active, and the Board of Supervisors approved another emergency declaration today. We have also seen extensive private property damage. If you would like a safety assessment, call 831-454-3171 or fill out an online form at http://sccoplanning.com/PlanningHome/Bui….
As always, we have storm preparedness tips at http://santacruzcounty.us/StormPreparedn…. You may also check current PG&E outages at www.pge.com/outages.
More rain is coming. Please check the above sources or stay tuned to local media for updates. My advice is to drive only if necessary, as conditions are likely to get worse before they get better.
Thank you and stay safe.