One resident speaks about living in a flood evacuation zone, Felton Grove
FELTON, Calif. (KION-TV) -- Evacuation orders are nothing new for people living in the Felton Grove area of the Santa Cruz Mountains with many folks keeping a close eye on the San Lorenzo River.
"The first [flooding] in 2017, I lost all my daughters books from when she was growing up, and that was kind of sad," said a resident of Felton Grove Virginia Wright.
Wright has lived in the area for 30 years and has grown accustomed to hearing the sound of the San Lorenzo River filling up and rushing into Santa Cruz.
"If you can imagine, [the water] was high and it broke windows in our place," said Wright. "It took down the fence. The neighbors were people who like to collect stuff like tank tires and [it] all came in our yard. The mud was two to three inches deep all over the yard and inside."
On Thursday morning, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office went door to door asking people to evacuate. Despite this, Wright remains hopeful...
“Last time the water got up high and we lost a lot of stuff that was on the first shelf," said Wright. "That was the worst since '82, when a really big flood came in. We fled three times."
As heavy rain and runoff maintains evacuation orders, past flooding causes mud in an addition to an intensive cleanup process.
"I was like, it's not going to flood; like, I still don't think it's going to flood," said Wright. "But as soon as [I saw] the sheriff, we got that evacuation... 'You have to evacuate now.'"
For people living just a few feet lower, the fear of flooding is real.
"We have to move anything that's on the floor on the deck, and then the floods come in and they leave mud," said Wright. "We have--almost everyone has--different tools to move the mud out and then you get into the street."
