The San Lorenzo River has kept flowing through Santa Cruz County’s many disasters. Above, damage from liquefaction in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.
In the wake of this month’s floods, we’re thinking about one word—and that’s resilience. Defined as “the capacity to withstand or to recover quickly from difficulties,” resilience is a quality that’s needed now in many parts of California.
Locally, the Community Foundation Santa Cruz County is boosting the resilience of the local community with its Santa Cruz County Disaster Fund, “activated to support local nonprofits responding to the atmospheric river storm and flooding of January 2023.”
Among the groups already responding to local needs are the Community Action Board, Community Bridges and Second Harvest. Their volunteers are providing assistance and resources to those affected by flood damage, and also helping with preparation for new storms.
Those who can’t volunteer their time can still help by donating to the Disaster Fund. And thanks to the generosity of a local family, donations are being matched dollar for dollar, up to $75,000. So the time to give is now.
With the help of the Disaster Fund, Santa Cruz County will recover. We have in the past. Take the 1989 earthquake, which—according to a Good Times report on Joe Biden’s Jan. 19 visit—marked the last time a U.S. commander in chief had walked on county soil Many locals remember that natural disaster with the same vividness as the CZU fire of 2020. But for younger readers and new residents—or those fascinated by history—we found an impressive online catalog of Mother Nature’s hardest hits to Santa Cruz County.
Created by the City of Capitola Historical Museum, the heavily illustrated “Timeline of Natural Hazard Events Impacting the City of Capitola” starts off 1791 with the destruction of the nearby Santa Cruz Mission. From there, it goes on to chronicle floods, earthquakes, droughts, storms, high surf, dangerous winds, tidal waves, erosion and mudslides. It even includes an entry from 1961 about sooty shearwaters falling out of the sky—the incident that inspired Alfred Hitchcock’s film The Birds.
Ultimately, though, each disaster was followed by recovery. And thanks to the hard work and generosity of community members, so too will the floods of 2023.
