In Scotts Valley, people are still trying to wrap their heads around it tornado that touched down in the busiest part of town on Saturday.
It’s the first time a tornado has struck Scotts Valley, high in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Many witnesses called it a stunning experience.
“I’ve lived in California all my life. I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Ernesto Ochoa, who was working at a pizza restaurant when the tornado struck at 1:30 p.m.
“It was a big roar and it really sounded like a train,” Scotts Valley resident Joan Butler said.
“I’ve never seen cars twist like that before. That was really unusual,” said John Ledingham, who saw the twister while driving home. “A funnel cloud flew right over the car, and it was, I don’t know, maybe three stories above my car, and then it hit.”
City officials said the funnel cloud turned into a tornado when it touched down and spun for a third of a mile on Mount Hermon Road.
“Cars flipped, people got hurt, light poles down, everything you can think of,” Ledingham said.
First responders and witnesses said the powerful winds overturned seven vehicles and injured five people, most of them drivers.
“When it happened, I was a little bit in shock. I didn’t really think about it. But seeing those people turning around in the cars and just crawling out of their cars kind of puts it into perspective,” Ochoa recalled.
Vice Mayor Derek Timm said one person remained in hospital as of Sunday afternoon.
“We had cars thrown across this parking lot and across the street,” Timm said. “Then we had a Cal Fire vehicle that got flipped, a large trailer got flipped.”
The vice mayor said the high winds destroyed 15 traffic lights on and near Mount Hermon Road.
A very large tree was also uprooted and landed on a Scotts Valley Middle School building. The principal said one classroom was damaged and will be temporarily unavailable. School will resume on Monday.
Sunday’s change in weather gave people an opportunity to clean up the mess left behind by the historic storm.
Many of the fallen trees had been cleared by Sunday morning. Power and communication lines were restored.
‘This one hit right in the center of the city. Mount Hermon Road, where he turned, is the second busiest street in the entire Santa Cruz County area. So it is the most traveled street (in our city). The street closed at exactly 1:30 PM. In the afternoon there were things in all our (shopping) centers here. And when the tornado came through, we were incredibly lucky.
Everyone is grateful that there were no deaths.
“Besides all the first responders, you saw people just pulling over in their cars, clearing the streets and helping each other. It was amazing,” Ledingham said.
Da Lin
