Wake-up Call from Hunga Tonga, By Sam Storey, Mayor, City of Capitola

Times Publishing Group, Inc. February 2022 • Vol 27 No. 2 www.tpgonlinedaily.com

Wake-up Call from Hunga Tonga

By Sam Storey, Mayor, City of Capitola

On Jan. 14, 2022, we were reminded once again of the awesome power of Mother Nature. That day the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai submarine volcano erupted with a force greater than multiple atomic bombs.

That eruption sent a volcanic plume miles into the stratosphere and triggered a tsunami wave that traveled throughout the Pacific Ocean.

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Table of Contents

Cover

Wake-up Call from Hunga Tonga, By Sam Storey, Mayor, City of Capitola

Community News

5 Help Ethiopian Reunite with Local Family, By Edita McQuary 6 Five Questions for Author Buzz Anderson 7 Covid Solution?: Bill Would End Personal Belief Vaccine Exemption, By

Jondi Gumz 9 Runners Return to Capitola: Protocols Put In Place To Address Covid

Concerns • Cabrillo Youth String Music at the college’s Music Building,

VAPA 5000 • Clean California Initiative • Santa Cruz County Jobs 10 Record Year at Santa Cruz County Bank • Three Single Moms Earn ‘Live

Your Dream’ Awards, By Kate McGuire 11 Our Community Reads 2022 starts Feb. 4 13 Showdown over Federally Regulated Rail Line on Feb. 3 17 Central Fire Re-Districting: Have Your Say 18 Sgt. Gutzwiller Tribute Planned at Willowbrook Park, By Kieran Kelly 21 AG: Settlement Against Student Loan Servicer: 43,000 Could Get Payments of $260 Each from Navient 23 Assembly OKs SB 418, PV Healthcare District • County Pledges $5

Million to Buy Watsonville Hospital 30 Manu Koenig Chairs County Board of Supervisors

Business Profile

14 Safe At Home Senior Care: Superior Service, By Edita McQuary

Monthly Horoscope • Page 26 – Aquarius Sun, Nodes Shift: the Narrative Changes, By Risa D’Angeles Community Calendar • Arts & Entertainment – Pages 28, 29

Featured Columnists

1 Wake-up Call from Hunga Tonga, By Sam Storey, Mayor, City of Capitola 19 Planning Ahead for the 3G Shutdown, By David Witkowski 22 A Look at the State Budget, By Zach Friend, Supervisor, Second District 24 For the Love of … Quotes About Water, By Rebecca Gold Rubin 24 Trying to Get Concert Refunds Because of COVID, By Christopher Elliott 25 Thoughts on Thinking We’re Awake, By Joe Ortiz 25 Using Writing to Claim Your Space, By Marlize Velasco 27 Dark Chocolate Mousse, Inspired by Bobby Flay 30 District 1 Meetings Go In-Person/Hybrid, By Manu Koenig, Supervisor,

First District 31 Late Bulbs Need No Chill, By Tony Tomeo

contributing writers

Sam Storey, Edita McQuary, Jondi Gumz, Kate McGuire, Kieran Kelly, Risa D’Angeles, David Witkowski, Zach Friend, Rebecca Gold Rubin, Christopher Elliott, Joe Ortiz, Marlize Velasco, Bobby Flay, Manu Koenig, Tony Tomeo

editor

layout

Michael Oppenheimer, Noah Panec

graphic artists

Michael Oppenheimer, Noah Panec

photography

Michael Oppenheimer, Noah Panec, Brad King

website

Michael Oppenheimer, Camisa Composti

production coordinator

Camisa Composti

media consultants

Teri Huckobey, Brooke Valentine, Tara Carcamo

office coordinator

Bill Pooley, James Hudson

distribution

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“Hunga Tonga” from page 1

Hunga Tonga is 5,380 miles from Capitola yet the next day we saw and felt the results of that eruption. Thank our lucky stars that the tsunami was not high enough to come over Capitola’s Esplanade seawall. It was another warning sign from Mother Nature and raises the question if we can do something to protect Capitola Village before the next one hits. Because its not a matter of “if” but a matter of “when.”

After the volcanic blast, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a Tsunami Advisory at 4:53 a.m. on Jan. 15. Acting on that advisory, Capitola Police and Central Fire coordinated their efforts to monitor and respond to the situation.

In December 2021, the City of Capitola had installed a remote water height monitor on Soquel Creek that measures the water height and flow. It allows the City to remotely monitor the water flow and collect that data over time.

The initial shockwave from the blast came through Capitola around 4 a.m. causing a spike in barometric pressure.

The tsunami pulses first arrived in Capitola at about 7:30 a.m. and pulses of waves continued for several hours. The initial waves caused a reverse flow in Soquel Creek and in a few places it jumped its banks.

Fortunately no homes along the creek or in the Village were flooded.

Undoubtedly, if it hadn’t been for the current seawall on Esplanade Drive, Capitola Village would have been flooded.

The current seawall along the Esplanade was built in 1986 and we have former Capitola leaders to thank for their foresight in providing that measure of protection. That project was made possible by a grant from the Coastal Conservancy and has served Capitola very well.

Hunga Tonga in loud terms raises the question of whether it is still adequate in an era of sea level rise. The Esplanade seawall is 23” high on the sidewalk side and varies in height on the ocean side depending on the height of the beach and the tides. Sometimes and in some places the wall is not much more than 23” high from the beach on either side. That’s not much margin for error where tsunamis are concerned.

In 2011, NOAA issued a Tsunami Warning for our region due to a 8.9 magnitude earthquake in Japan. The Tohoku Tsunami had major impacts all along the

California coast and has shaped some of our tsunami preparedness policies. If you would like to see the results of that tsunami visit the California Geological Survey online for “California Impacts from the 2011 Tohoku Tsunami” and view their multimedia tour. The Geological Survey website also has a Tsunami Hazard Area Map. You can click on that map and see the areas that are susceptible to tsunami inundation. For Capitola, that includes all of the Village up beyond the trestle and up Soquel Creek to Highway 1. Sam Storey There is no stopping a tsunami; there is only what we can do to prepare and how we react when they happen. Check to see if you live in a tsunami inundation area and, if so, have a preparedness and evacution plan. Purchase flood insurance if you can. Make sure you are able to receive Nixel alerts from your local police or sheriffs office. In the event of a Tsunami Advisory or Warning follow the official instructions and try to avoid threatened areas — go to higher ground! Check on and assist those that may be unable to evacuate. Now back to the Capitola Esplanade Seawall. An Esplanade Seawall upgrade project is listed in Capitola’s Local Hazard Mitigation Plan. However, it is identified as a “low” priority project. After our wake-up call from Hunga Tonga, the Capitola City, Village property owners, and the Coastal Commission may want to reconsider raising this priority level and work together to shore up our coastal defenses. The details of getting that done are beyond the scope of this article. However, if we start now, we may be better prepared when the next and potentially bigger tsunami comes our way. n ••• Sam Storey is mayor of Capitola. Contact him at samforcapitola@yahoo.com.

Photos Credit: City of Capitola