Hail and heavy rain strikes northern Santa Cruz county

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, Calif. (KION) https://livestream.com/accounts/25723746/events/8522569/videos/200824881

Torrential rain hit the roads of Santa Cruz county Thursday morning. Just before 10 a.m. the rain turned into hail in the northern parts of Santa Cruz county.

“Yeah that was kind of crazy. When I was at work earlier we have a big window, and a lot of my coworkers came in right after and they looked a little bit draggled,” Mike Cartmill who works in Scotts Valley said.

Along Highway 17, Cal Trans crews scooped away the slush that built up from the hail and rain. On the side of the highway big pellets of hail stuck to the ground into the early afternoon.

Near the summit saw the largest amount of sleet. On Summit Road many cars were caked with hail.

“Every now and again we’ll have a nice cold storm that will come through, but hail is kind of a one off. We don’t get it to often, so people might want to stop maybe take pictures or play in it. We recommend don’t stop on the side of the road for any of that. Tell the story when you get home,” CHP officer Adam Rikilo said.

By late afternoon Thursday, most of the sleet had disappeared and the roads started to clear up.

There were a few minor accidents in Santa Cruz county but no injuries reported by CHP as of 5 p.m. Thursday.