This morning’s super-high king tide sent a surge of seawater into King Salmon’s Mediterranean eatery Falafelove, leaving nearly a foot of standing water inside the building. However, instead of getting bogged down by the bad weather, Falafelove owner Avishai Leibson put a positive spin on the situation, recording a video of a customer kayaking into the restaurant jokingly asking, “You guys open today?”

“Yeah, we’ll open around noon,” Leibson replies in the video. “You know, just another day at Falafelove.”

Once the tide started receding around 11 a.m., Leibson and his team began pumping water out of the building and cranking the dehumidifiers. They opened for business, as predicted, right around noon.

“You can’t fight the tide,” he told the Outpost during a brief phone interview. “My life philosophy is equal parts ‘Life is what you make it’ and ‘Life is how you take it.’ You gotta have a positive attitude, regardless of the stuff that gets in your way. I mean, I got my health and I got my business up and running. At least we’re gonna get a little bit of social media attention from this, you know? It’s all about maintaining a positive outlook.”

Asked whether the business suffered any water damage, Leibson noted that the building had endured years of minor flooding without any significant issues.

“I do want to thank [our employees] and our patrons who’ve supported us and extended their concerns and well wishes,” he added. “This is just a funny, viral moment we can share with Humboldt.”

King tides will continue through Sunday, with coastal flooding possible between 8 and 11 a.m. Stay dry out there, folks!

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What’s the difference between a strike-slip fault and a subduction zone? Can a local 7.0-magnitude earthquake? And what on earth was going on with all that weird footage of Humboldt Bay last week, in the wake of the quake?

Jay Patton, of Cal Poly Humboldt’s geology department, is here to talk us through it all. Check out his blog here.

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Press release from the California Highway Patrol:

On December 13, 2024, at 4:37 pm, Humboldt Communications Center (CHP Dispatch) received 9-1-1 calls for a multi-vehicle crash, where both vehicles were upside down in Rattlesnake Creek. 

Todd McKay, 47 years old of Garberville, CA, was driving his Toyota 4-Runner northbound on US 101, at Spy Rock Road, during the heavy rainstorm.  McKay’s 4-Runner began to hydroplane and ran off the roadway.  The 4-Runner drove up the embankment and overturned, landing on its roof.  The 4-Runner slid into the southbound lane, directly in front of a Toyota Rav 4, driven by Anthony Fair, 56 years old of Philo, CA.  The two vehicles collided, and both went down the embankment into Rattlesnake Creek.  Both vehicles landed in the creek upside down and were nearly submerged as the creek continued to rise due to the heavy rain fall.
 
Good Samaritan’s Barrett Thomas and Abram Hill (an off-duty volunteer fire fighter with Leggett Valley Fire and Rescue and Piercy Volunteer Fire Department) were driving, separately, through the area when they noticed vehicle debris in the roadway.  Both pulled over and checked down the embankment. Thomas pulled Fair and his son to safety out of the creek and noticed McKay’s vehicle downstream.  Hill jumped from the creek bank onto the upside-down vehicle, just as two of McKay’s children emerged from the vehicle.  Hill helped the children to the creek bank as McKay emerged from the vehicle with his 4-year-old child.  Hill helped McKay and his child up to the side of US 101.  Hill recognized the 4-year-old was not breathing and did not have a pulse.  Hill and Thomas began CPR.  Not long after starting CPR, the 4-year-old’s pulse returned and shortly after, the 4-year-old was breathing without assistance.  The 4-year-old was transported to Howard Memorial Medical Center and then to UC Davis Medical Center and expected to make a full recovery.
 
All occupants of both vehicles received minor injuries from the crash.
 
The CHP Garberville Office is extremely grateful for Abram Hill and Barrett Thomas for their quick actions in performing CPR in the pouring rain, ultimately saving the life of McKay’s 4-year-old child.

When I first came to Humboldt County in January of 1947, I was told that I was lucky to have missed the 21st of December. Folklore in the area says that something awful usually happens on that date. Since I didn’t have any other choice of location if I was going to live with my husband, a native of the area, I decided to pay no attention to the silly rumor.

Until 1954 it was a rumor, and then we had a 7.5 on the Richter scale earth quake on December 21st. Then the next year on that fateful date we had a flood. We thought it was a big one just because we did not know what was in store for us December 21, 1964.

It had rained for days in December and all of a sudden it cleared around the 16th or so. In Eureka we basked in the cold sunlight; after all, it was better than rain, we thought. And then it hit. It seems that the back country snow suddenly started melting when a warm weather rain front moved in. The amount of water which started flowing in the Eel, the Klamath and the Smith was unbelievable. We became completely isolated in the Humboldt Bay area. To the south on 101 we had roads but no bridges. To the east on 299 to Weaverville we had bridges and no road. Highway 101 north abruptly stopped at Klamath where the bridge had gone out. We stayed in this condition for over six weeks.

Our grocery stores were strikingly bare and were supplied by air lift, the largest single civilian population to be taken care of thus since the Berlin air lift. The Salvation Army sent giant relief planes full of blankets, etc., and the Safeway stores sent their planes in, loaded with groceries. I still recall the almost-empty shelves in some places, and in others, piles of very fine fresh fruits.

The county was under martial law, with the airport at McKinleyville being under the control of an Army colonel, the only governing authority who mattered in our lives. He definitely outranked God, even if we were sending up fervent prayers for the unceasing water rising in our rivers. The rivers just kept rising. You can’t imagine so much water. We lived by the radio because our lives were regulated by what we heard over the air waves. The telephone, which we weren’t supposed to use, was commandeered for official business. But most of us phoned our relatives outside the area as soon as we could get a line, which was not easy to procure. A lot of phone calls went out at strange hours and were gratefully received by anxious relatives far from Humboldt.

The story I want to tell is about the Humboldt State University student who was out of the county, home for Christmas, when the flood struck and his amazing plan for moving without ever returning to the area.

While home for Christmas, he procured a job which had to be taken immediately. There he was, with a job; however, his belongings were in his student quarters in Humboldt. He had no way to get his possessions as there was no access to the county. Furthermore, there seemed no promise in the future for him to get here to regain his student properties, like books and clothes. There was no auto transport into or out of the county.

By telephone he and his roommate came up with a unique scheme which was predicated upon the immense goodwill toward our fellow humans which existed in all of us at the time. It was simplicity itself. Anyone leaving the county by air merely phoned the number posed on the numerous Humboldt State bulletin boards and volunteered to take one package out as part of one’s luggage. The package was then delivered to your home shortly before departure time, and you were given a quarter. Airport lockers were only 25 cents for 48 hours at the time. You also received an envelope stamped and addressed to the young man who was moving. You were was instructed to deposit the package in the locker, put in the quarter, remove the key, and put the key into the envelope which you then mailed.

I don’t know how many of us it took to get him moved, but move him we did.

Then there was the Oregon Tech basketball team who had flown down to Arcata to play Humboldt. They played their game all right, but then the flood came and they couldn’t get home. We had an almost-empty fraternity house because its occupants had gone home for Christmas. The Oregon basketball team moved into the fraternity house, and they even arranged to use the cars which some of the fraternity men had left when they flew out. No, they were not squatters; all was arranged by telephone.

How did Humboldt get all the students back? Our President, Siemens, and our Dean of Students, Karshner, came up with a brilliant scheme. Remember the county was absolutely isolated by road when it came time for school to start in January. They wrote to each student and advised him or her to fly to Redding, where a special airlift arranged for transport to Humboldt, complete with college buses in readiness to transport students from our airport to the campus. Nature intervened with a couple of very mean tricks.

The San Francisco airport, the rendezvous for Arcata-McKinleyville, was fogged in for 24 hours or so. Then when they assembled at Redding, a snowstorm came which caused the shuttle to Arcata-McKinleyville to be put off for one night. The President and Dean got the American Red Cross in Redding to take over, and somehow nearly 1,000 students were put up over night in Redding.

Yes, they did get back to campus.

Most of us cringe as the 21st of December comes around each year. We wait in anticipation for the unknown mystique of the forces of nature.

Kathryn “Kay” Annette Hunter (Ambrosini)
June 29, 1953 – December 5, 2024

Our beloved wife, mother, and grandmother, Kay Annette Hunter (Ambrosini), 71, of McKinleyville, died unexpectedly and went home to be with her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. As Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

Kay was born on June 29, 1953, in Ferndale, to Donald and Rose Ambrosini. She grew up in Ferndale, attending Ferndale High School, where she played tennis all four years. After graduating, she pursued her passion for healthcare, earning a nursing degree from Humboldt State University.

Kay dedicated her early career to serving others as a registered nurse, spending four years at Queen of the Valley Hospital in Napa before returning to Humboldt County. She continued her work at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Eureka for eight years before deciding to focus on raising her family. In 1981, she married Jim Hunter. Together, they shared 43 wonderful years and raised three children: Dan, Katie and John.

Kay was known for her deep faith, kind spirit, and vibrant humor. She loved spending time with her grandchildren, joking and laughing with friends, playing piano and singing, and, of course, her lifelong passion for tennis. She was an active member of the McKinleyville Seniors Walking Club and found joy in fellowship with her Patriarchs Bible Study Group at Arcata First Baptist Church. Her kindness and laughter brought light to all who knew her.

Kay is survived by her devoted husband, Jim; her children, Dan, Katie and John; and her cherished grandchildren, Rose, Audrey, Estelle and Henry.

A celebration of Kay’s life will take place on Saturday, December 14, 2024, at 11 a.m. at Arcata Church of the Nazarene. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations in Kay’s memory to InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at Cal Poly Humboldt.

As we grieve her passing, we find comfort in knowing that Kay is rejoicing in the presence of her Savior. Her unwavering faith guided her through life and stands as a shining example and guide for all of us.

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The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Kay Hunter’s loved ones. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here. Email news@lostcoastoutpost.com.

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Following years of declining enrollment, a trend impacting public schools statewide, McKinleyville Union School District may soon consolidate from three school sites to two, Superintendent Julie Giannini-Previde announced on the district’s website earlier this week.

The consolidation, if it goes forward, would see Morris School transition over a two year-period from its current use as a 3rd-through-5th-grade campus into a site for district offices, preschool and independent study. The district’s other two district schools would expand their class capacities, with Dow’s Prairie enrolling kids in TK through 3rd grades (it’s currently TK-2nd) and McKinleyville Middle School taking 4th through 8th graders (it’s currently 6th-8th). 

Reached by phone this afternoon, Ms. Julie, as she’s known within the district, said no decisions on the matter have been finalized.

“We need to hear what the concerns are, to hear what people think will work for themselves and their kids,” Giannini-Previde said. “We especially want to hear from parents with younger kids because they will be impacted for the longest period of time, but we also want to hear how older [students] will be impacted, too.”

In the explanatory message posted online Monday, Giannini-Previde addresses some of the factors contributing to declining enrollment — including falling birth rates, more inter-district transfers and the increased popularity, post-COVID pandemic, of the unschooling and homeschooling movements — as well as the resulting drop in state and federal funding.

“In order to balance our budget, we have reduced staffing across the district, which leads to larger class sizes and less support staff,” the superintendent writes. “Additionally, like many industries, we are working hard to keep up with wage increases and the impact of inflation on our employees’ bottom line.”

While district administrators are working to address these issues, Giannini-Previde notes that the three school sites are only operating at about 50 percent of their student capacity. Enrollment across the three schools has declined by more than 40 percent over the past two decades, dropping from 1,559 students in 1994-95 to just 846 this year. With 252 students enrolled at Morris this year, enrollment there is less than half what it was in ‘94-‘95.

The district’s proposed two-year rollout  for consolidation “would ensure that students do not have to switch back and forth, allow us time to ensure we can absorb staffing changes through retirements and regular attrition, and give the 4-8th [grade] staff a year to plan for the addition of 4-5th graders in a self-contained setting,” Giannini-Previde says in her online message.

On the phone this afternoon, she said many districts are in the midst of similar preliminary planning for the upcoming year, in part because California requires them to notify staff who will be laid off no later than March 15. 

“We need to make sure have the staff we need but we’re not overstaffed,” she said. Asked if she has a more specific timeline in mind, she replied, “Some decisions I hope can be made sooner rather than later. Other parts may need to be pushed out until after we get more thoughts, more people at the table to make those decisions.”

This afternoon she posted an update on the district’s website with answers to some of the questions that been coming in since the Monday announcement. The update reiterates that this is a draft plan, not a “done deal,” and it frames the plan as an opportunity to make some changes, such as redesigning McKinleyville Middle School, which “has been the source of negative talk about our schools,” Giannini-Previde writes.

In order to facilitate more feedback, the district has launched an online family/caregiver survey, which can be accessed by clicking here, and there’s a series of upcoming meetings where Giannini-Previde will be available. Again, check the district’s website for more info.

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The City of Eureka has activated an extreme weather shelter in response to the storm. If you or someone you know needs shelter tonight, be at one of these locations at the specified time:

• Free Meal at 6 p.m. (35 West Third Street)
• Sacoo Amphitheater at 6:30 p.m. (near the Adorni Center)
• HOPE Center at 7 p.m. (720 Wood Street)
• 14th and Koster Streets at 7:30 p.m.

More information can be found in the Facebook post below. For additional questions or concerns, contact the City of Eureka at (707) 441-4253.

Stay safe, stay warm.

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