January 1982 II

“I can see clearly now, the rain is gone.” So is much of the forest that formerly limited the view from here. Much of it is likely on the beaches around Santa Cruz by now. Even a minor flood can do wonders in regard to vegetation abatement.

A bit of rain is expected to continue through much of tomorrow, but it is not expected to be as torrential as it had been. Sporadic rain showers are expected on Wednesday. Otherwise, the weather should be mostly clear and dry. Perhaps the ground below all that pleasant weather will manage to drain a bit before rain resumes.

So far, this winter has not been as destructive as the winter of 1982. It has potential to worsen though. A few vehicles have been squashed by fallen trees near here. A few homes have been ruined elsewhere in the region. We have seen patio furniture and a few pieces of decking float by in Zayante Creek below the confluence with Bean Creek, but have not yet noticed any debris that obviously originated from houses. Plastic debris that remains on the scoured banks includes coolers, trash bins, basketballs, volleyballs, and an odd preponderance of jugs of liquid laundry detergent. With the exception of the laundry detergent, these items are easily claimed by the creeks from backyards.

Not only is this weather difficult for those who already lack shelter, but it also deprives a few more of their established shelter when it is most important. It was discouraging to see so many camping in their cars within the parking lot at Felton Faire while Felton Grove was evacuated. Even though everyone returned to their homes after the flood receded, it could not have been easy. Furthermore, a few of our excellent Community are not so fortunate.

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s