Stranded

The atmospheric river or pineapple express has been wreaking havoc on California for a month now... torrential downpours unlike anything I remember for all the time I've lived here.  Yes - we get pounded, but not relentlessly, like this.  

And as trees, powerlines, and mountainsides came running down... also came down were bridges, especially up in the Santa Cruz mountains, in which one of my co-workers lived.

I tried reaching him the first week of the year... to no answer.  I vaguely remember he said he'll be on vacation, so I didn't give it much thought.  Then week 2 came by and still no response.  Out of the blue, my associate manager says the guy is trapped.  The access roads to his neighborhood got wiped out.  He's without power and running water.  But he has food and water, thankfully.

I didn't know what to do.  Call 9-1-1?? What's 9-1-1 gonna do??? Send in a helicopter to evacuate??  So I started cold-calling my company's emergency / security hotlines to ask for help.... no one knew what to do.  Physically, he was safe.  But for how long?? 

It was impossible for me to reach the guy... who turned on his phone just a few minutes a day... to conserve power on his phone.  So only way I got word from him was through that associate manager.  And he told me... the ravine from where the bridge use to be is at least 50 feet wide.  I told him... we can drive up to the ditch... and heave bottles of water, propane, battery, Domino's Pizza over to him.  

That was going to be our Thursday adventure. Drive up to the ravine.  I was thinking... we should bring ropes.  Maybe we can make a transport line.  Or I can maybe borrow a drone and fly some water (and beer) over to him.  Later in the afternoon... a co-worker that lives in Santa Cruz says someone made a zipline to ship supplies over.  Relief.

Then late last night... we find out that one of my employee's neighbor used a chainsaw and made a bridge or something... and the entire neighborhood got out. He was now in a safehaven of a Quality Inn.  

My L4 manager and I headed up to meet with him today and had lunch.  I thought about bringing a care package but wasn't sure what to get.  We drove through an hour of rain and mountainous regions... through fallen trees and power lines.  We saw CalTrans and PG&E fixing this and that along the way.  Suffice to say... it was not a drive I would take on any other Friday.

We got to this amazing Italian restaurant, situated in the middle of no-where, and as we found it, it use to be a brothel.  The decor is amazing.  The service is exceptional.  And the clam chowder... well worth the drive.  When my colleague walked in... he was smiling from ear to ear.  He was so glad to see a couple of familiar faces.  His eyes started welling up.  "You didn't need to do this.  But I'm so happy to see you right now."