Santa Cruz County crews preparing for storm runoff

FELTON, Calif. (KGO) -- As Live Doppler 7 has been tracking, it won't be long before the entire Bay Area will be feeling the impact of this series of storms. One particularly vulnerable area is the Santa Cruz Mountains where flooding, mudslides and downed trees come with the territory. That doesn't mean preventive measures aren't being taken.

Flooding can be a nightmare that happens routinely in parts of the Santa Cruz Mountains, such as this community known as Felton Grove.

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That's why Vance Wagner and Tom Moran are being pro-active ahead of the storm. They're part of the crew of 45 with the public works road department.

"We have some channels we know are going to flood during the rain, and we'll be heading to those, and we have been heading to them to get them cleared out and handle the amount of flow that we're expecting," said Wagner, assistant road superintendent with the County of Santa Cruz.

Moran was busy operating a backhoe to remove silt that has reduced the capacity of Bull Creek to channel storm runoff down to the San Lorenzo River.

"So we're trying to lower of this channel down to the flow line to allow the water to flow through here at the normal rate it was designed and that will hopefully prevent the flooding in the back area," said Wagner.

The back area they're trying to protect include Plateau and Valley drives in Felton, which floods when Bull Creek can't handle the storm flow. The entire crew will be on minimum 12-hour shifts when a major storm hits, running from one trouble spot to another.

RELATED: SFPUC deploys temporary flood barriers to prepare for multiple storms

The county has distributed sand and sandbags to various sites for people to protect their property. A construction crew in Felton was busy protecting a home, covering an open roof with a series of tarps.

"We don't want any sudden surprises so we're getting as ready as we can with the tarps here," said Cody with Castleton Construction.

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