Community works together to bring supplies to Big Sur

Specialized Helicopter and Del Monte Aviation are working together to shuttle people and supplies back and forth to Big Sur. On Monday, a helicopter made trips every 20 minutes. The pilot said as long as there’s a demand they’ll keep flying.

Greg Hawthorne, a Big Sur artist, has taken t he helicopter transport twice so far.

“I have a grandson that’s going to be born on Wednesday,” said Hawthorne . “I’m pretty excited about that, so I had to come in for the birth.”

People who are stuck on the south side of the damaged Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge are sharing all sorts of food and supplies to help each other.

“We need something that we can walk across where the bridge is,” added Hawthorne . “We need a small suspension bridge for individuals to walk home and it would really help.”

Down Highway 1, the Big Sur Health Center is back up with their power, water and internet on. But even with the center at full strength, Executive Director Sharen Carey said it’s still tough to get patients their medication because they’re simply unreachable.

“And unfortunately, they can’t go north or south,” said Carey. “So to take care of their needs remains challenging until they get some sort of road open.”

And until that happens, supplies and medications will continue to be transported via helicopter. As a backup, Carey has been in contact with some drone operators from Monterey if things with Specialized Helicopter get too challenging.

“In the 32 years I’ve been here I’ve never seen an instance where the community did not come together in full force,” said Carey.