In today's newscast:
Local officials are preparing for a wet winter
As the season’s first rains roll in this week, local officials are planning for an intense rainy season and higher winter waves.
Santa Cruz County is preparing local infrastructure and readying residents for potential storms, flooding, and power outages.
Director of Response, Recovery, and Resilience David Reid says that heavy rains aren’t the only thing to look out for this winter.
“ The changes in sea level elevation due to the warm pulse of water, or the Kelvin wave as it's being described, that is of higher concern right now because we know we're gonna get big winter waves," said Reid.
The county has also deployed the Community Emergency Response Team. The group of trained volunteers is alerting communities in flood-prone areas directly.
“They're going door to door and handing out some information materials and evacuation hang tags," said Reid.
As the rains roll in for the winter, county officials say it’s important to stay connected to the Cruz Aware alert system, local news, and weather forecasts.
Watsonville Community Hospital leaders consider service cuts to stabilize the budget
The hospital could close in six to 12 months if the financial bleeding isn’t stopped soon. Tony Nuñez is chair of the public board that owns the hospital.
He says a proposal to close labor and delivery and the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit next year will be considered by the board within 30 days.
“ It's not a position that any of us wanna be in, and it's a position that we're in, and we need to have really hard, difficult conversations about what the future looks like for the hospital," said Nuñez.
Hospital leaders will unpack financial details and the possible service cuts at a town hall Thursday night in Watsonville. Longtime Watsonville nurse Roseann Farris says a grassroots fundraising campaign saved the hospital from bankruptcy in 2022 and it can be done again.
“ The community owns this hospital, and it is not okay to alienate a whole population of our community," she said.
Nurses plan to hold a rally protesting the possible cuts on Saturday.
