Rain, debris cause Soquel road's collapse cutting off 450 homes from city

SOQUEL, Calif. - Hundreds of Soquel homes and the residents within are cut from the rest of the city after overnight storm damage caused a road to collapse. 

Friday saw construction crews painstakingly, and piece-by-piece, placing large boulders into Bates Creek in Soquel as they try to rebuild the road above.

"We’ve been going through a lot with different storms. But we didn’t think this would actually happen, on our street," said resident Lisa Navarro.

Overnight, heavy rain and debris damaged a culvert, eventually leading to the collapse of Main Street at Buck Court. County officials say 450 homes and thousands of residents are now cut off from the rest of Soquel.

"We are right now, in the creek bed, trying to drop some fill down there, to see if we can get one lane open," said Santa Cruz County spokesman Jason Hoppin.

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While vehicles can’t cross the breach, pedestrians can. They must take a long walk through a labyrinth of muddy paths to a footbridge on property owned by Mina Feuerhaken’s family.

"In case there is an emergency down this way, there are 2,000 residents or whatnot, there’s no way to get them to a hospital or anything," said Feuerhaken.

Longtime residents say a similar winter storm in the early 80s washed out this stretch of Main Street, causing similar problems.

"I had to stay with my dad and grandmother on the other side. But the next day you could drive over it," said resident Charlie Strauhal.

"I know this will probably be over soon. So we’re okay," said Navarro.

Officials said they hope to have one lane for vehicular traffic Saturday if the forecasted rain doesn’t cause additional damage.

Jesse Gary is a reporter based in the station's South Bay bureau. Follow him on Twitter, @JesseKTVU and Instagram, @jessegontv