Flood — Santa Cruz, California

2022-12-31 · near Soquel, Santa Cruz, California

Event narrative

The Old Mill Mobile Home Park in Soquel was evacuated, after several mobile homes flooded. KSBW television quoted a resident as saying that the river rushed in so fast that barely had time to leave the house. The resident compared it to ocean waves in their backyard. County officials also stated that they would later find debris in Soquel Creek that blocked the flow.

Wider weather episode

An atmospheric river impacted the Bay Area on December 31st, resulting in significant rainfall across the San Francisco Bay Area. Initial forecasts called for the most intense rainband to progressively move south towards the Central Coast as the day went on. However, the morning of the 31st, a surface low developed west of San Francisco, and the river stalled over the Bay Area. This resulted in significant rainfall totals for many Bay Area sites. Most notably, downtown San Francisco received 5.46 inches of rain on the 31st, the second wettest day on record. The Oakland Museum received its wettest day since records began in 1970, with 4.75 inches of rain.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (36.9911, -121.9565)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1079966. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.