Scotts Valley city council declares local emergency in the aftermath of disastrous EF1 tornado

SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif. (KION-TV) --  Scotts Valley City Council members voted unanimously to approve a local emergency declaration in response to the destruction caused by the EF1 tornado that reached the ground back on December 14.

The city previously told KION the tornado caused more than $100,000 in damage.

The city said this declaration will allow them to gain access to state and federal funding for any repairs or relief needed.

"There are so many people pulling for that person so we're grateful to hear she's doing okay," said council during the meeting on Wednesday night.

Council members praised the immediate response to the emergency from multiple agencies.

"What we saw, the response to the tornado, is what makes Scotts Valley special," they said. "These are the moments that show who we are as a community and who we are as a culture.

The city said anyone who suffered losses from the disaster is asked to contact the city. From there the city said they'll try to connect the individuals or businesses with state agencies for assistance.

Scotts Valley tornado causes thousands of dollars in damage, the city now reviewing its emergency operations

The city says that there were more than one hundred thousand dollars in damages. 

Now city officials are preparing to vote on an emergency declaration to access state funds for repairs.

The aftermath of Saturday's tornado is still evident here in Scotts Valley. 

Debris and shattered glass from damaged vehicles remain here in the Safeway parking lot as clean up efforts continue.

Saturday afternoon a powerful EF-1 tornado struck Scotts Valley causing major damage along mount Hermon road. 

The storm knocked out power, downed traffic lights and forced businesses to close during the busy holiday weekend.

"It's Christmas time, so it's extremely busy," Tyler Best, store owner of Cali Style said. "It's probably, you know, ten times busier than a regular Saturday. "I's probably estimated 10 to 30 people that might have come in that afternoon that didn't after we closed."

Despite the financial losses, Tyler Best feels fortunate the damages weren’t worse.

"I'm not prepared for a tornado whatsoever," Best said. "Now, we do have the the glass strength that is good for the heavy winds, but if it just veered up here, then it probably would have taken out, done some damage, so we got lucky."

The city is moving forward with its local emergency and state funding plans, as well as receiving help from private insurance companies.

"We're as a city, we're applying to CAL OES which is the emergency office services for the state," Derek Timm, Vice Mayor of Scotts Valley said. "Then you have damages to the school district buildings as well, school district insurance will be covering those damages and so there's a mix of different support that we're receiving as a community."

The city is also updating its emergency plan to include tornadoes, a rare but now recognized threat for this area. 

"We were in the middle of updating our emergency operations manual when the storm hit. and so it really before that, we didn't think a tornado was something we'd have to plan for as a community," Timm said.

Clean-up efforts have been ongoing and power has been restored to businesses along Mount Hermon Road.

Light signals have been fixed and most debris picked up. But despite some major damage, things have been able to get back to normal here pretty quickly.

"We had 15 lights that were ripped off of our different intersections here," Timm said. "All of those were restored by yesterday during our prime travel hours. so it really has been a quick response by the city."

Residents and businesses continue to asses the damages, city officials are asking people to support local businesses after the damages from the storm.