Tapati's Labyrinth

A fire broke out this afternoon in Watsonville, the south end of Santa Cruz County, at 2:15 p.m. Witnesses on Hwy 1 reported a motorist starting multiple fires. This hasn't been confirmed but there are at least four confirmed sources for the spot fires that have now spread to five hundred acres between the airport and Seascape golf course. Hwy 1 S is closed from Freedom Blvd on, Hwy 1 N is closed at Airport. Traffic has backed up for miles and emergency vehicles are making their way through with great difficulty. Some structures are burning and homes have been evacuated with a reverse 911 call. I heard phone interviews with residents who could see their homes were not burning or surrounded  by fire who were determined to jump the fence at the airport to get past the police and rescue pets.

Smoke is billowing in a huge mushroom like cloud because there is no wind blowing it away. The humidity is only eleven per cent right now and it's blistering hot--in the nineties. Let's hope they get containment before the wind can kick up. I hope if this was deliberately set they catch whoever is responsible.

I am just amazed at the THIRD fire in Santa Cruz County within a month.

Of course the floods are still in progress in the Midwest, with more levees failing.

Where are the locusts? They can't be far behind.