Flood Victims Recall Village Tragedy

Those who were there will never forget the floods that swept through Capitola on and . Caused by heavy rains and a pipe, the flood destroyed several businesses and left others displaced for weeks.

The worst part is that it came in two waves. Business owners scrambled to clean up the damage only to be hit again, two days later, with an even larger flood. 

"The second time was worse. I thought I was going to be able to save my carpet, it was all dry, and then we had it happen again,” said Tatiana Lima, who owns on Capitola Avenue. “It was really rough for all of us. A lot of shops just left. I think that only now shops are bouncing back."

Like many businesses, Lima . Her landlord pitched in, and so did the surrounding community, and Lima was surprised and grateful for the support of local shoppers in the weeks following the flood. The Capitola Village & Wharf Business Improvement Association, through a  raised around $8,500.

Almost every business owner and employee who talked to Patch about the flood over the weekend made a point to say that those who weren't there won't really ever know how bad it was.  

"It was kind of difficult that it didn’t get the news coverage that it really should ha have, that the news people all did their coverage from up on top of the hill," said Dana Jueneman, who works at Craft Gallery which had to relocate completely. "They didn’t really know what was going on down here.”

"The most frustrating part after the fact was hearing people go 'Oh, it was the Tsunami,' 'Oh it wasn’t that bad, we were at the top of the hill,' 'Oh, the City really helped,” said Jueneman, who remembers using her personal vehicle to drive up the hill to the parking lot, fill sand bags and carry them back down. 

"By then we were all just kind of working like robots," she said.

Jay Latta, who owns Latta Jewelry remembers calling his son, Atticus, for help.

“It happened so fast it was kind of disorienting," he said. "I called my son right after it happened and the water was starting to recede. ... And he comes down the road there, and he has a hose slung over one shoulder. All of this friends were behind him and he has a case of beer on the other shoulder, and it turned out that the case of beer was the most useful."

Latta ended up tearing out the carpet and putting in a brand new bamboo floor in his tiny shop which sells hand-crafted jewelry. 

"Then again, we ended up repainting the walls and making improvements in here. This place hadn't been remodeled for years and years," Latta said.

What are your memories of the flood? Do they match with that of the Village business owners? Tell us in the comments!