More than 6,000 people around Watsonville were without power due to an outage likely caused by the wind and rainstorm that ravaged Santa Cruz County over the weekend.
According to PG&E spokeswoman Angela Lombardi, heavy winds ranging from 40-70 miles per hour downed a power pole on private property off Pioneer Road in Watsonville Sunday. Several eucalyptus trees were thrown to the pavement around 6:30am, taking a utility pole and power lines with them.
By midday Sunday, PG&E crews restored power to 3,422 customers in the Green Valley Road area, while 6,410 customers are still without power throughout the City. Workers later began repair work on the downed pole Sunday afternoon, Lombardi said
Heavy rains caused minor flooding on scores of area streets, causing many storm drains clogged with leaves and debris to back up.
Matt Mehle, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service of Monterey, said that over a 72-hour rainfall period ending Monday afternoon, Watsonville reported 3.07 inches. Eureka Canyon in Corralitos took in 4.08 inches, while Soquel measured 2.88.
“The biggest number in our region was Uvas Canyon at 8 inches,” Mehle said. “It will dry out over the next several days, with the skies mostly clearing up. But the big story now will be colder temperatures: We’re looking at highs in the mid-50s and overnight lows in the mid-30s. Of course, as you go higher elevation, it will be colder. Over in Hollister, it will be near freezing overnight. We’ll be stuck with dry conditions at least until Friday.”
