Intense storms cause sinkholes to form in Santa Cruz, California

The stormy weather brought huge tides to Santa Cruz County in California over the last three months, causing two sections of the coast to crush. Some of the swells that hit the coastline last week were between 2.7 and 4.6 m (9 and 15 foot) high, according to media reports.

"The two areas that are impacting the path right now have a combined length of 60 feet or so and both of them are a rock shelve that's probably 3.6 to 4.6 m (12 to 15 feet) below the level of the path, so that gives you some idea, so we put together the bid in cubic yards, so it's about 170 cubic yards (130 cubic m) of the larger stone," said Joshua Spangrud, the city of Santa Cruz civil engineer.

Bad weather conditions caused a sinkhole to appear along the New Brighton State Beach, as the long drainage canal of 183 m (600 feet) failed. The sinkhole formed on January 23, 2016, and is 1.8 m (6 feet) long and 3 m (10 feet) wide.

"We've got engineers coming in to evaluate it and establish a time line for repairs. Most likely, it's going to happen when we get some dryer weather, and the soil dries out a little, but the engineers will get us some more information on that," said Bill Wolcott, the California State Parks Department representative.

Another sinkhole was reported around a drainage canal in the Rio Del Mar parking lot, Aptos Creek. Luckily, local officials from the Santa Cruz Public Works reacted promptly and conducted a temporary fix before it caused any problems.

"We sometimes see it in sewer pipes and also on our drainage pipes where there's just a dislocation of the pipe, maybe in the drainage inlet. You see some type of erosion like that," said John Presleigh, Santa Cruz County Public Works Director.

Elena Ugrin

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