Welcome to the 2024 Santa Cruz County Operational Area Emergency Operations Plan: Emergency Evacuation Planning Appendix Public Review and Comment Page. We appreciate your interest and participation in the review process.
The Evacuation Planning Appendix provides a framework for preparedness, response, and recovery operations related to a planned or spontaneous evacuation due to a natural, human-caused, or industrial emergency. This effort builds upon the 2023-2024 update of the Santa Cruz County Emergency Operations Plan.
Public input is important to our ‘whole community’ planning approach, to ensure the voices of our diverse communities are reflected in this Appendix. We invite and encourage your feedback.
A key element of this plan is the establishment of Evacuation Planning Areas (EPAs), which enhance collaborative, whole-community evacuation planning during the disaster preparedness phase. EPA maps are included in the plan, with higher-resolution versions available on this site, along with the purpose and description of the EPA concept.
- Note 1: The high-resolution maps are the same as those within the plan itself, but are larger in file size.
- Note 2: EPAs aid in evacuation planning but do not replace emergency alert and warning systems. To stay informed, we encourage you to sign up for CruzAware, and to help spread the word.
The comment period ends December 16, 2024. Please complete the online public comment form.
If you cannot complete the online form and want to request a paper copy of the comment form, please email annie.puckett@santacruzcountyca.gov and provide your name and address. Written comments may be returned to the Office of Response, Recovery & Resilience at 701 Ocean Street, Room 520. Comments must be post marked by the last day of the comment period.