Tuesday night storm leads to several road closures Wednesday in Santa Cruz County

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, Calif. (KION) The heavy wind and rain Tuesday took several massive trees to the ground, pulling down power lines and leading to multiple road closures.

As of Wednesday morning, three roads were closed from downed trees, however they were all in rural areas with minimal traffic. One closure was on Glenwood Drive in Scotts Valley and another on Empire Grade.

The largest was a massive tree on Swanton Road right next to the Swanton Pacific Ranch apple orchard in Davenport.

“With a tree this size it just pulverizes whatever it hits, and unfortunately for us the power lines were in the way along with one of our poor apple trees,” Orchard employee Chandler Reller said.

The orchard says they’ll likely have to close for the holiday weekend since the trees are blocking the entrance of their apple orchard.

“Stuff like this happens, and it's common out in the hills,” Reller said.

Wednesday afternoon the rain held off with only a few spurts of light sprinkles, but the roadways still are slick for drivers.

“Kind of scary. I drive a stick shift so my car slides. There’s been times where I slide when I put my foot on the break, which is kind of dangerous,” Santa Cruz resident Blair Evans said.

AAA says this is the busiest travel weekend of the year. More than 55 million Americans will drive at least 50 miles to their location for this Thanksgiving.