WATSONVILLE — Pounding rain, mixed with lightning and a few blasts of thunder, drifted over the Central Coast Thursday.
Emergency dispatchers were bogged down with a host of calls, ranging from residential flooding to roads spilling over, downed power lines, toppled trees, and detours throughout the county.
California Highway Patrol officer Sam Courtney said his officers were crushed with calls for service starting around 4 a.m. Thursday. For starters, a towering eucalyptus tree crashed over both northbound lanes of Highway 17 around 4:20 a.m. That drew a huge response from Santa Cruz Police, Sheriff’s deputies, the CHP and Cal Fire to shut down the heavily-used corridor. Traffic was also shut down on Old San Jose Road out of Soquel due to mudslides and trees down. Highway 236 in the Santa Cruz Mountains was closed off along with Bear Creek Road, Highway 9 and, at times, Highway 17.
“We’ve been swamped with calls,” Courtney said. “People need to slow down and pay attention to the weather.”
In Watsonville a pair of pine trees crashed to the ground beside Saint Patrick’s Church on Main Street. Seconds later, several trees and branches dropped over cars and the roadway along Westridge Drive near West Marine.
On Paulsen Road out by the fairgrounds, the heavily traveled road is swamped with rainwater. One man tried to navigate the flooding in his white pickup but got stalled midway through his errant crossing Wednesday afternoon.
That brought on a huge response from various emergency agencies. The driver had to swerve around three “Road Closed” signs.
The National Weather Service of Monterey said showers and possibly a thunderstorm, mainly before 4 p.m., will be possible Friday with a chance of showers and thunderstorms after 4 p.m. Some of the storms could produce small hail. The high will be near 53 degrees.
On Friday, showers are likely, after 10 p.m. On Saturday showers will be likely, mainly before 10 a.m.
