Santa Cruz County residents prep for heavy rain, windstorm this New Year weekend
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. - The people who live in the Santa Cruz area say they’re used to getting a lot of rain, and though there can be some flooding, they’re also concerned about downed trees and losing power during a storm.
The flood water has since subsided in Rio Del Mar near Aptos Creek, but residents nearby say the water receded pretty quickly and things are back to normal.
"I was thinking I was going to avoid this area for a while until it went away. I was hoping because it’s near low tide…but if it increases within the next few days, whoa! It’s going to be knee-deep around here," said Anita Long, who lives in Aptos.
With another heavy rain and windstorm headed to the Bay Area this weekend, residents in Ben Lomond are also preparing to reduce the chances of flooding.
"If it’s really big on our road, we have gutters we have to keep clear. Otherwise, it’ll flood the road out. The water will run down and go across it…we had a slide a couple of years ago in that big rain, that just took out half of our road," said resident Joni Bella.
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Bella says she’s lived in the area for 40 years and knows exactly what she needs to ride out a storm.
"A lot of people have generators. We have a lot of battery-operated lights and both of places have wood-burning stoves so we can keep the heat," Bella said.
Downed trees are another concern for people living in the Santa Cruz mountains area. When trees go down during heavy rain and windstorm, power lines can also be damaged, sometimes leaving people without power for days.
"You’re stuck, but Cal Trans has been really good about getting the tree out of the way because they know that you’re land locked up there," said Mark Foster, who says he's lived in Boulder Creek for four years.
Much of the heavy rain is expected on Saturday and fortunately, the people KTVU spoke with say they are prepared as they can be to ride it out.