Wednesday July 13, 2022
KSBW —
A long-awaited construction project is underway at the mouth of the San Lorenzo River near the Santa Cruz Main Beach.
The goal is to reduce urban flooding, improve public safety and protect habitat.
Along the Santa Cruz trestle, there’s a measuring device and when the water level reaches more than five feet flooding begins along surrounding neighborhoods and here at the boardwalk.
Sand began to collect at the mouth of the San Lorenzo River after the Santa Cruz Harbor was built in the 1960s.
San Lorenzo water levels would rise and for years would flood nearby neighborhoods.
“We would get standing water at the 100 block of Jessie Street, Pearl Street, Ocean Street, Bixby, Riverside, I mean that whole that’s my side of the river,” said J.D. Sotelo, a Lower Ocean Homeowner.