The parking lot behind JJ’s saloon was covered in 3 inches of mud. It was noon Monday, and the Santa Cruz County saloon flooded her three times in her ten days.
All recent flooding has come from direct rain, but Soquel Creek was pouring over the levee into downtown last week, according to bartender Jeff Ferreira.
“It must have been a few feet,” said the 56-year-old bartender a few days ago, pulling out a video showing a flooded lot behind the saloon.
On Monday, as swathes of central and northern California were still assessing the damage from last week’s series of storms, another winter rain hit the region, causing flooding and claiming the lives of drivers, 5. A year old boy was washed away. was about to cross the street with his mother. Authorities called off the search for the boy on Monday afternoon because the situation was so dangerous.
Debris slides blocked part of Highway 17, the highway that connects San Jose and Santa Cruz, and rain fell so quickly that the San Lorenzo River overhangs its banks in places. (Japan Meteorological Agency) data show The river reached a height of about 24 feet around 8:00 a.m. and then receded as the rains abated.)
Across Santa Cruz County, people posted pictures of cut down trees, flooded cars, and collapsed bridges.In stormy Felton Grove the water rose so high It swallowed the stop sign’s metal bar whole, leaving only the red octagon, which seemed to float above the muddy water.rescuer ran through the flooded streets on a jet ski. They slowed down in front of the house and asked if everyone was okay.
On Facebook, Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office Warning posted all day long:
“Please refrain from going out unnecessarily.”
“Heavy rain and runoff.”
“Evacuation order”
For many of the area’s longtime residents, storms have set them back to the deadly deluge 40 years ago.
During the first week of January 1982, it rained every day until part of the hillside collapsed near the mountain town of Ben Lomond. Landslide kills 10 people Destroyed over 20 houses.the body of 2 youngest victims — brothers aged 7 and 5 — were not found.
During his Monday morning commute to work, Colin Eppard gazed out at the point where the San Lorenzo River empties into the Pacific Ocean.
The 32-year-old, who lives in nearby Watsonville, said he had never seen the river run as violently as it did this morning. An avid surfer, Eppard said he noticed waves breaking in spots that only appear after huge storms.
“I drove along the coastline and saw the last two big pushes of these storms and jokingly told my wife that this could reshape the entire coastline,” he said. “And it’s just so literal.”
A few hours later, in downtown Capitola, Craig French surveyed the swollen Soquell Creek, which, like the San Lorenzo River, begins in the Santa Cruz Mountains and empties into Monterey Bay.
French said the intensity of Monday’s storm was a return to the storm in 1982, when waves crushed the edge of the pier and flooded parts of the town.
“In 40 years, I haven’t seen anything this bad,” said French, former chairman of the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors.
Former Mayor of Capitola, Mick Routh, said that during the 1982 storm, parts of the nearby mountains received 18 inches of rain in two days. Routh said he had 32 inches of precipitation in the area from last September to this week.
“And it’s not over yet,” he said.
For Felton resident Shane Terry, 33, Monday’s storm led to a forced holiday.
He started his morning commute to San Francisco to work as a produce distributor, but eventually decided to turn back after reaching a point where the road was cut by three feet of water. He said it wasn’t worth the risk, even in his SUV.
At one point, he stopped at a bridge over the San Lorenzo River, he said, and the water was so high that it lapped almost to the bottom of the bridge.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything as bad as this,” said Terry, who has lived in the area all his life. “We had a very big storm like eight years ago and many streets couldn’t handle the water, but I don’t think it’s ever been this high.”
