Super moon tides raise flood concerns at Pajaro Dunes

UPDATE 11/14/16 6:05 PM:

Monday night’s super moon should live up to its name. It will be the closest a full moon has been to earth in 68 years.

“Everybody was posting about the super moon. Everybody was so excited for it. I didn’t get to see it but hopefully tonight. Partially, if the fog clears up,” said Marina resident Max Partido.

With the moon shining bright, most eyes will be on the sky, but Bruce LaClerque, of the Santa Cruz County Public Works department, has his eyes on the ocean, where a large ocean swell has flooded some streets entering the Pajaro Dunes community.

“So then, any contribution of water to the lagoon behind the closed river mouth raises the elevation of the lagoon,” said LaClergue.

LaClergue said additional flooding is possible with tonight’s super moon. Because of its close proximity to earth, the moon is strengthening tides.

“We’re having a 6.2 ft. high tide, which is a really high tide,” he said. “You could have wave run up with the high tide going across the beach and filling the lagoon.”

There are just two roads entering the Pajaro Dunes community. One of them, Shell Drive, has been under water for a couple of days. Public Works crews are keeping a watchful eye on the second road, Beach Road

“We are monitoring it, regularly, daily. We have through the weekend and towards the end of last week. We gave a notice of mobilization, we have our equipment down there,” said LaClergue.

Looking ahead to the weekend, there is a chance of rain in the forecast. The county says it may have to manually breach the mouth of the Pajaro River to let floodwaters drain, something they usually don’t do until December or January.

ORIGINAL STORY: High surf has the road to Pajaro Dunes underwater.

Recent tides pushed sand and water ashore, creating a sand bar near Shell Drive at the entrance to the vacation rental community west of Watsonville. Water trapped behind the sand bar has flooded the road and now, there are concerns that tonight’s super moon will produce even higher tides and more flooding.

KION’s Steve Fundaro reports that Santa Cruz County public works crews are on the scene, ready to breach the sand bar and allow for the water to drain.

Watch his report tonight at 5 and 6 p.m. on KION 5/46.