A massive tree pulled out of its water-logged soil and collapsed off of Highway 17, just as it winds down to meet Ocean Street. ![]() (Shmuel Thaler – Santa Cruz Sentinel)Īreas along West Cliff Drive from Pelton Avenue to Almar Avenue were also closed Thursday by the city of Santa Cruz as intense waves crashed against the bluffs and pushed large rocks onto the roadway, according to a release from the city.īut the damage in Santa Cruz didn’t stop at the ocean’s edge. Boone White leaps from his car with no injury after a large tree fell on it while he was driving on the transition from southbound Highway 17 to northbound Highway 1 on Thursday. It will remain closed for the day and will be reevaluated Friday. The Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf was evacuated and closed Thursday morning after waves had begun crashing onto its deck, according to a post on the Santa Cruz City Government Facebook page. ![]() The more than 100-year-old ship was severely damaged during a previous storm system in 2017 after its stern was torn off, causing it to shift and keel to the side.Ĭonditions in North County were similarly precarious. As of Thursday afternoon, only a small tip of the SS Palo Alto could be seen poking above the water’s chaotic surface. Large portions of the Seacliff Pier in Aptos and its iconic Cement Ship collapsed into the sea under the relentless assault of the massive waves. (Shmuel Thaler – Santa Cruz Sentinel)īut the Capitola Wharf was not the only one along the county’s coastline that buckled under the weight of the storm surge. Powerful storm waves roll into Seacliff State Beach on Thursday between the Cement Ship and the heavily damaged pier. “The village is going to be closed for a while,” Ryan said. She said that as of Thursday afternoon, no major injuries of Capitola residents had been reported. Ryan said the city had already deployed building assessors that are going door to door in the village to better understand the extent of damage, but had no cost estimate at this time. Whitby had boarded over the waterfront windows before the storm but giant ocean swells pushed debris through the front wall and a window, filling the interior with several inches of seawater. “It’s bad - hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage,” said Josh Whitby, co-owner of the Capitola Village restaurant Zelda’s. Several waterfront businesses in Capitola Village were also severely damaged by the rising tide and the massive logs and debris it carried. “I’ve been the manager here for 15 years … and we’ve not had this sort of wave impact since I’ve been here.” “I’ve never seen that,” Goldstein told the Sentinel. Homes along the banks of the creek were flooded, as pieces of decking and unmoored kayaks floated downstream.Ĭapitola City Manager Jamie Goldstein said it’s common for creek levels to reach 6 feet when the tide is high, but said Thursday’s watermark easily exceeded 10 feet, which is beyond the channel’s capacity. As ocean levels surged, so too did the water in Soquel Creek, which runs through the city before emptying out into the Pacific Ocean. It was used for decades to ship redwood lumber, farm crops and other supplies before serving as a prime location for recreational fishing. The wharf is 855 feet long and was first constructed in 1857. ![]() Local observers began to report the damage around 8 a.m. Sarah Ryan said the piece likely broke off in the morning’s early hours as the tide began to climb. (Shmuel Thaler – Santa Cruz Sentinel)Ĭapitola police Capt. Powerful waves continue to batter the Capitola Wharf Thursday morning after the storm destroyed a section of the structure. City officials were still surveying the damage Thursday morning, but early estimates are that the section is at least 20 feet long. CAPITOLA – Heavy rainfall, washed-out roads and downed trees have kept work crews across Santa Cruz County busy for nearly a week now, but it was a massive tidal surge early Thursday that delivered one of the storm’s heaviest blows so far.īattered by a relentless parade of waves nearing 20 feet, a chunk from the center of the Capitola Wharf broke off and sunk into the rising sea.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |