Scotts Valley discusses future tornado preparedness plans

It’s been over 24 hours and crews have been working around the clock to repair the damage caused by a rare tornado on Saturday.

Scotts Valley Mayor Randy Johnson says that while it may be rare now, you need to have a plan to prepare for another tornado.

“People were injured, cars were overturned. We didn’t see any flying cows, but at the same time it was a significant event that caught our attention,” Johnson said.

There will be discussions in the future about how to better prepare for a future possible tornado.

“I don’t know if we’ll ever have a tornado siren or anything like that, but I think there needs to be talk about implementing tornado warnings in the future because we’ve seen that before,” Johnson said.

“Emergency crews have been working around the clock and it could take a few more days to repair the damage caused,” Johnson said.

“The lights are down and they’re flashing red lights on Mount Herman for the next two or three days because we don’t have light standards right now to kind of replace them and we have to order them in,” Johnson said.

Johnson adds that crews will continue to be out over the next few days, but he is thankful the tornado did not strike anywhere else.

“Our teams will continue to assess the situation and look for further damage to other people or structures, but because it happened right here in a parking lot rather than a residence or during a school day. It could have hit the school, we are very, very concerned. “Lucky,” Johnson said.

Although five people had to be hospitalized, Johnson is relieved to hear they will be OK.

“We were very grateful and fortunate that no one died, because such an event, even if it was small and short-lived, was very cruel,” Johnson said.