Boulder Creek residents brace for more stormy weather
BOULDER CREEK, Calif. (KION) Thousands are still without power in the Santa Cruz Mountains late Thursday night after a major wind storm knocked out power lines in the areas of Boulder Creek.
Residents are now prepping for another round of storms that could make things harder for them. Streams of residents were getting their fill of gas for the power generators keeping their homes lit earlier Thursday evening.
Plenty more came out for groceries and other essentials before the night settled.
"Today, I finally was able to get the generator because they're all out of stock everywhere. So I had to drive down to Watsonville to get a small baby, little mini generator that can at least power my heat," said Bailey Cotrona, a Boulder Creek resident.
According to the PG&E power outages map as of Thursday night at around 8:30 p.m., most of Boulder Creek and the areas north of it were still sitting in darkness. Luckily there was still power flowing through essential businesses like the gas station and the grocery store, presumably with the help of a generator.
But many stores and residents are not so lucky.
"There are people without generators and stuff trying to get by day after day with this stuff. That's what's really hard. I got some means, a generator and wood and stuff, but I just feel bad for those folks," said Mike Hernandez, a Boulder Creek resident.
If you needed firewood, there were plenty outside the grocery store; there was no shortage of produce either. While residents in Boulder Creek are already used to the challenges every year living in this area, there is still a lot of frustration, and fear, about what will happen next.
"Invest in infrastructure, you know? What the hell? If they built this stuff up, stuff has been dilapidated, run down, shareholders make a ton, you know, same old stuff," said Hernandez.
"There is a lot of concern there with the rain and the whole debris flow. Everyone is pretty much tight-knit around here, all keeping an eye on each other too, which is really good because you don't really see that too much anymore in a lot of places," said Cotrona.
PG&E repair crews were working into the night to restore the power to residents. The company says at this point, it looks like the outages was caused by equipment issues. For many areas still, power is not expected to be restored until Friday.
PREVIOUS STORY: Thousands of residents in the Santa Cruz Mountains are still without power Thursday night after a powerful wind storm earlier this week.
Plenty were seen trying to get the supplies they needed to weather more storms coming.
KION's Josh Kristianto will have more tonight at 10 and 11 p.m.
