Tornado-related damage pushes Grover Beach into state of emergency 

The Grover Beach City Council declared a local state of emergency on Feb. 13 due to a tornado that caused moderate to severe damage across the city the week before.

"I was working on an email, and next thing I know the lights went out in my office, my computer turned off, and all the power went out. We're on a generator so it takes a second to start back up, but in that brief moment the building started shaking and vibrating," Grover Beach Police Comdr. Jim Munro told New Times. "I thought, 'Oh boy, I wonder if this is the big one, the big earthquake,' and I contemplated getting under my desk. But I realized it wasn't an earthquake."

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• Photo Courtesy By Jim Munro
• DESTRUCTION A fallen tree totaled a Grover Beach City Hall employee's car as a tornado swept through the city on Feb. 7.

It was actually an EF-1 tornado that touched down in Grover Beach on Feb. 7, sustaining wind speeds between 86 to 110 miles per hour, according to the National Weather Service.

City Manager Matt Bronson, acting as Grover Beach's emergency services director, proclaimed a local emergency on Feb. 8.

Munro said that the wind stuck around long enough to cause moderate destruction, especially on Grand Avenue, uprooting trees, downing powerlines, and damaging buildings, infrastructure, and cars.

"The Fire Department's bay doors, where the fire trucks come in and out of, sustained damage with six of those doors needing replacements. They also had some damage to their communication equipment up at the top of their building," he said. "The Police Department had a tree fall into our building causing some damage to the exterior, our gate that allows secure access to our backlot where the patrol cars are is completely bent from the power of that tornado. So that's going to have to be replaced."

Although tornado warnings were issued for SLO County coastal areas farther north on Feb. 7, Grover Beach residents didn't receive one. Munro said that city officials were just as surprised by this event as community members likely were.

"After talking with the National Weather Service because they had come into the city the day after, and we rode with them for several hours, they said that this wasn't really on their radar per se, so there just wasn't time to get any type of warning out," he said.

Munro said that the Police Department received around 50 calls for tornado-related service and damage from 4 p.m. to about midnight, and nearly 1,600 residents experienced power outages. No injuries were reported, he added.

A tornado also touched down on Los Osos Valley Road on Feb. 7, SLO County Emergency Services Manager Scott Jalbert told New Times, but no damages were reported.

"The National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for Los Osos and Morro Bay areas around 3 in the afternoon, and we actually found out about it through social media. So, we immediately contacted them asking if this is correct, and they advised us that they were going to cancel the tornado warning," he said.

While it's not uncommon to receive a tornado warning during stormy seasons, Jalbert said, they usually don't make landfall, so Feb. 7 was unusual.

Munro said that Grover Beach's local emergency declaration means it can receive funding from the state or federal government so expenses don't come out of the city budget or reserves.

"Due to the amount of damage in the city, our hope is to see whether the state or the federal government could potentially reimburse costs associated with this emergency," he said. "But we won't know the outcome of that for a bit of time." Δ