© Shmuel Thaler -- Santa Cruz SentinelArnie Huddin's Ford pick up truck is removed from Highway 17 after being destroyed by a mudslide north of Vine Hill Road on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2017.
The San Lorenzo River breached its banks and flooded Highway 9 near Paradise Park about noon. The California Highway Patrol blocked Highway 9 near the Tannery Arts Center.
At about 1 p.m., Soquel Creek in Capitola Village rose to just a few feet from its banks near the river mouth at Capitola Beach. Aptos Creek in Rio del Mar had not crested and had not breached its banks by 1:30 p.m. near the mouth at Seacliff State Beach.
A massive mudslide struck three vehicles on Highway 17 at roughly 10:15 a.m., flipping one truck over, closing the highway and trapping hundreds of drivers unable to proceed. The California Highway Patrol has shut down both lanes of Highway 17 near Jarvis Road, according to CHP Officer Trista Drake, who said no one was hurt when the slide hit the vehicles. The highway near the slide area would be closed in both directions through Tuesday night, she said. "The hill is unstable and the slide keeps spilling over into the other lanes," Drake said.
Bear Creek Road also remains closed. Drake said travel to and from much of Santa Cruz County would be limited to Highway 1.
Arnie Huddin of Capitola was driving north on Highway 17, when the hillside collapsed just north of Vine Hill Road. He said he was on his way to vacation in Lake Tahoe. The slide picked up and flipped his truck into the oncoming lanes, he said.
"I feel very lucky," Huddin said. "And I was worried about driving in the snow."
Raffi Nalvarian of San Jose was heading south at 9:45 a.m. on Highway 17 just before the hillside collapsed on the northbound lanes near Vine Hill Road. He saw a large Ford truck upside down and the driver, a man, was getting out of the vehicle.
"That truck was covered in mud," Nalvarian said. "The mud was probably 30 feet high. His truck got pushed from the northbound lanes to the southbound lanes. It was insane." Nalvarian said the mud was high enough to hide vehicles.
Highway Patrol Sgt. Grant Boles confirmed no one else was in the slide.
All of Highway 17 is blocked near Vine Hill Road, he said. "Right now, we're just trying to get all the traffic turned around,"
Boles said at 11:15 a.m. "It's going to be hours, if not a day" before 17 is reopened.
He said drivers should try to avoid Highway 17.
Santa Cruz County spokesman Jason Hoppin said evacuations are underway for Felton Grove. That area is being flooded by the rising San Lorenzo River.
"Emergency personnel are also monitoring Paradise Park. We have several rivers at or approaching flood stage," Hoppin said of the San Lorenzo River, and Soquel and Corralitos creeks.
The county is activating the Emergency Operations Center.
Runoff from the rain is causing damage throughout the San Lorenzo Valley as it pours off the watershed. Roads throughout the mountains are flooded and dozens of mudslides have blocked or partially blocked residents' routes to and from their homes.
Highway 9 is littered with small mudslides, some of which appear to be ready to become big mudslides. Roughly five miles north of Boulder Creek, Highway 9 is closed where the hillside has collapsed, blocking the road. PG&E is en route to right a downed power pole. There is no timetable for Highway 9 to reopen at this juncture.
A hard closure is in effect at the south border of Brookdale on Highway 9, where PG&E crews were investigating a power pole that slipped from the road when about three 100-foot redwoods also fell by the highway. Witnesses heard a loud cracking sound as the trees fell about 11:45 a.m. Traffic in that area is backed all the way to Boulder Creek.
Off Two Bar Road, neighbors are battling a mudslide that is threatening homes and other property on Fern Avenue.
"Four trees are down behind my house and the mudslide is coming from there," said Matt Bystedt. "Right now we're just trying to divert the flow so it does the least amount of damage."
Although Bystedt said he didn't think the hillside behind his home would give any further, other neighbors expressed concern at the sight of the thick mud being channeled down Fern Avenue, fearing that a larger mudslide was imminent.
National Weather Service forecasters are monitoring the San Lorenzo River, which is at "major flood stage" and had not crested by 11 a.m., meteorologist Ryan Walbrun said.
"From past experience, that flood level can point to major flooding in Felton Grove with roadways under several feet of water and inundated approaches to the Felton Covered Bridge," Walbrun said. "It's going to continue to rise. It's already past what we expected."
Since Monday, Boulder Creek received 6 and a half inches of rain, Walbrun said. A weather station in Ben Lomond recorded 5 and a half inches of rain during that 24-hour period.
"It's a strong storm," Walbrun said of the atmospheric river. That system is funneling oceanic moisture from the south.
The system is expected to last through Tuesday afternoon with showers likely Wednesday and a cold front expected Thursday, Walbrun said.
The cold front is expected to rain up to 4 inches in the Santa Cruz Mountains, Walbrun said.
PG&E Co. spokeswoman Mayra Tostado said 2,100 Watsonville customers were without power at 10:30 a.m. after multiple trees fell on power lines. There also were 580 customers without power in Felton, and hundreds in the same situation in Boulder Creek, Santa Cruz, Scotts Valley and Soquel.
This story will be updated.
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