Dramatic flooding in Santa Cruz as storm breaches coastline

LATEST Dec. 28, 4:35 p.m. Officials lifted evacuation warnings in Santa Cruz County for the areas near Rio Del Mar esplanade, Capitola’s beachfront and Pajaro Dunes, the county announced on social media Thursday afternoon. The coastlines were inundated with water earlier in the day as huge waves pushed debris onto the land, but more widespread flooding was so far avoided.

Santa Cruz’s East Cliff Drive, which was blocked earlier in the day by a log, is now “open and passable,” aaccording to a county post.

Dec. 28, 11:40 a.m. Waves flooded the Santa Cruz County coastline Thursday morning, closing sections of East Cliff Drive and blocking off the Rio Del Mar esplanade. Residents along the coast from Las Olas Drive to just past Hidden Beach County Park were being told to prepare for possible evacuations.

“The area of Rio Del Mar typically sees flooding whenever we get some sort of substantial rainfall,” said Ashley Keehn, the public information officer for the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office. “That’s what we started seeing this morning around 7 o’clock, with that high tide and rain coming in.”

Videos and images shared by the sheriff’s office and the California Highway Patrol showed mounds of driftwood pushed onto the Rio Del Mar esplanade and waves hammering the old cement ship by Seacliff State Beach’s Aptos Pier. 

The water, logs and debris on the roadway prompted the road closures, CHP spokesperson Israel Murillo told SFGATE. In a post on X, CHP said residents should, “exercise extreme caution near the ocean.”

Multiple rounds of rainfall, powerful winds and the full moon’s gravitational pull are contributing to the surges of seawater, SFGATE reported Tuesday. The National Weather Service’s Bay Area office warned of deadly conditions, and wrote in a high surf warning for Thursday, “Never turn your back to the ocean!” Further up the coast from Santa Cruz, evacuations were in effect around Stinson Beach. The high surf warning will remain in effect until 3 a.m. Friday.

This breaking news story has been updated.