The looming storm has families preparing for flooding and at least one family in Santa Cruz County is getting to abandon its home.
Many fear a similar event to what we saw two months ago where hundreds were evacuated from communities including Felton Grove.
Some families are still cleaning up after January’s storm, living in RVs and getting ready to head out before Thursday’s storm.
“It’s crazy how powerful water is because anywhere that there’s a slight crack, water just starts pouring in,” said Amberlee Galvin, Felton Grove resident.
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January’s storms were so powerful, they transformed Galvin’s entire neighborhood. Her family was rescued by a man with a canoe.
Her home is now yellow tagged and the family is gearing up for yet another series of storms.
“We ended up buying some trailers to live in on the property and since it's going to flood, we can’t stay on the property So, we need to go somewhere else,” said Galvin.
She and her family will be hauling their trailers to higher ground first thing Thursday morning.
“We’re just trying to air on the side of caution, I have no idea what we would do if these got flooded,” said Galvin.
Her home is surrounded by two bodies of water, the Zayante Creek and the San Lorenzo River, which is forecasted to reach flood stage by Thursday night.
“Everything has the potential and is more likely to flood than not with this event. The other thing we have going on is wind, so trees are going to come down again,” said Brian Garcia of the National Weather Service.
County leaders are asking everyone to be prepared for what’s coming -- flooding, downed trees, power outages and likely, evacuations.
“If this weather continues to trend the way that it does I think you can expect evacuation warnings coming tomorrow, in the early afternoon if not during the morning,” said Chris Clark of the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office.
After what they’ve experienced, much of the Felton Grove community will be gone even before that.
