canyonwalker (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
canyonwalker) wrote2023-03-13 12:41 pm
canyonwalker) wrote2023-03-13 12:41 pm
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Heavy Rains Cause Damage; More to Come!
The SF Bay Area got hit the past few days with another Pineapple Express, a big winter storm system. Air temperatures were warmer with this one so we didn't get snow like the storms two weeks earlier delivered. But as these storms added to an already-wet year, with most locations around the Bay Area now over 150% of normal season-to-date rainfall, damage from flooding is piling up.
In Soquel on Friday a flooded creek wiped out part of Main Street. It seems the culvert under the road got clogged with debris. Water in the swollen creek then surged over the top of the roadway. The roadbed was swept away. BTW, the picture above shows the creek after the flooding has subsided. Some initial pics I saw on Friday had the water only inches below the surface of the road after the washout happened.
Soquel is 35 miles south of us, on the Monterey Bay coast near Santa Cruz. My area is not under threat of harm like this. For one, we don't live in or near mountains, where rain runoff pours huge amounts of water into creeks. Two, the coast, and especially the coastal mountains, are almost always hit harder with rain than we are. The mountains wring moisture out of the storms as they arrive from across the Pacific.
Speaking of mountains, though...
A bit closer to home, on this side of the Santa Cruz Mountains, rains caused a washout on Route 84 above Los Altos. This spot is up in the mountains near Route 35, Skyline Blvd. Again, it's not near us and doesn't represent a danger that threatens our city, though this is a route we usually drive at least a few times a year when visiting parks in the mountains. For example, we drove this road home after hiking at Russian Ridge several weeks ago.
These are just two examples of damage caused by the storm that started last Thursday. There are plenty of others, including the flooding of Pajaro Creek in Monterey County. At the moment we're in a lull between storms.... The next pineapple express is supposed to arrive tonight!
In Soquel on Friday a flooded creek wiped out part of Main Street. It seems the culvert under the road got clogged with debris. Water in the swollen creek then surged over the top of the roadway. The roadbed was swept away. BTW, the picture above shows the creek after the flooding has subsided. Some initial pics I saw on Friday had the water only inches below the surface of the road after the washout happened.
Soquel is 35 miles south of us, on the Monterey Bay coast near Santa Cruz. My area is not under threat of harm like this. For one, we don't live in or near mountains, where rain runoff pours huge amounts of water into creeks. Two, the coast, and especially the coastal mountains, are almost always hit harder with rain than we are. The mountains wring moisture out of the storms as they arrive from across the Pacific.
Speaking of mountains, though...
A bit closer to home, on this side of the Santa Cruz Mountains, rains caused a washout on Route 84 above Los Altos. This spot is up in the mountains near Route 35, Skyline Blvd. Again, it's not near us and doesn't represent a danger that threatens our city, though this is a route we usually drive at least a few times a year when visiting parks in the mountains. For example, we drove this road home after hiking at Russian Ridge several weeks ago.
These are just two examples of damage caused by the storm that started last Thursday. There are plenty of others, including the flooding of Pajaro Creek in Monterey County. At the moment we're in a lull between storms.... The next pineapple express is supposed to arrive tonight!
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