Santa Cruz County Resilience Digest

A CalTrans funded study of climate risk to the 586 miles of county-maintained roads and the 32 miles of rail was released. Read on to learn more of its findings.

Read on to learn how you can donate to the Community Foundation of Santa Cruz fund for workers and harbor residents displaced by the devastating events of December 23 in the Santa Cruz Harbor.

Now that a contract has been awarded for the Murray Street Bridge earthquake retrofit in Santa Cruz, a spring 2025 groundbreaking is expected for the $45 million project. Read on to learn more.

Following the collapse of a 150 foot section of the Santa Cruz Wharf, questions about contributing factors are raised. Who or what is to blame? Read on to learn more.

As efforts to clean up and take stock of damage to the Santa Cruz Harbor from the storm swells on December 23 continue, the estimate of damages stands at $26 million. Read on to learn more.

After closing in anticipation of the historic swells which damaged the Santa Cruz Wharf, an inspection revealed the Capitola Wharf had withstood the storm with minor damage and it reopened on December 30.

UCSC Professor Gary Griggs recounts a histories of the tsunamis which have struck the City of Santa Cruz. Read on to learn more, and about his thought on tsunami risk computer models.

An after-action interview with City of Santa Cruz lifeguards Isaiah Mullen and Sam Hofmann following their rescue of two construction workers when the end of the wharf collapsed.

The Coastal Commission mandated protection of seabirds nesting under the Santa Cruz Wharf might have been a factor in the latest storm damage.

The mayor and city manager of Santa Cruz held a December 27 press conference and provided details about damage to the wharf, noting that a structural assessment would be required to determine when and if it would be safe to reopen. Read to learn more.

The damage assessment is still under way and have so far amounted to $20 million following the December 23 storm surge which smashed into the Santa Cruz Harbor, sinking several moored vessels. Read on to learn more.

A daughter is working to recover her mother's memorial bench which was on collapsed wharf.

Learn more about how officials describe the damage from ocean swells to the municipal wharf and harbor.

There is no estimate in when the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf will be reopened. Read on for the latest update on the partial collapse and next steps.

The Scotts Valley City Council has approved a resolution declaring a local emergency following a tornado that surprised the city during stormy weather on a Saturday afternoon earlier this month.

Cal Fire is taking applications for Camp Cinder, a free four-day, three-night immersive firefighter camp for young women ages 15-17. The program, led by women firefighters and offered June 23-26 in Shasta and San Luis Obispo, will teach rope skills, water rescues, hose movement, leadership and more,

City officials estimate over $100,000 in damages from the December 14 tornado which touched down in Scotts Valley. Read on to learn more about next steps.

There’s no law requiring California property owners to carry insurance, but the vast majority buy it to protect themselves from fire and other perils, or are required to do so by their mortgage lenders.

Read on to learn more about the tornado in Scotts Valley on Saturday afternoon, causing injuries, flipping cars and closing Mount Herman Road.

When disaster strikes, California gets federal funding to hire temporary workers to clean debris. But the jobs are tough, and some agencies struggle to manage the grants.

Learn more about federal plans to extend protection to 289 acres across multiple sites in Santa Cruz for overwintering monarch butterflies.

Find out what steps the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission is taking to receive long delayed state and federal reimbursements for storm and disaster repairs from previous years.

Third party specialists are investigating a computer and network outage that has Watsonville Community Hospital working with backup paper systems and files. Find out more about the outage and what's being done to bring systems back online.

A $3.6 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency will fund the clearing of debris left in the aftermath of the CZU Fire on the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo-owned 3,200-acre Swanton Pacific Ranch north of Davenport. Read on to learn more.

Learn more about the California State Parks prescribed burns in the Forest of Nisene Marks State Park and the CalFire prescribed burns in the Soquel Demonstration State Forest scheduled to begin in December.

Read this explainer about how road repair in Santa Cruz County is funded, and why repairs from the 2017 and 2023 winter storms are taking so long.

Learn how fire districts are moving forward in the wake of the defeat of Scotts Valley Fire Department's Measure S and Central Fire District's Measure R in the November election.

Read on for updated information about the Santa Cruz County effort to repair roads damaged in the atmospheric rivers of 2023, and how a lack of federal funds is slowing down progress.

Trump’s promise to “end” the offshore wind industry could threaten CA’s renewable energy goals, potentially cutting off federal funding.

Get the details about the California State Parks prescribed burns at Wilder Ranch State Park over the next two weeks and resulting temporary trail closures.

Learn more about how the just-passed $10 billion climate bond measure will fund resiliency projects across the state.

Sixty years ago, I was a reporter for the Klamath Falls (Oregon) Herald and News and with my family lived in a small house on the Link River, which flows out of Upper Klamath Lake, draining a large portion of the Cascade mountain range.