Lookout Santa Cruz, 2024
Author(s): Staff
When a series of atmospheric rivers ravaged Santa Cruz at the beginning of 2023, the newsroom team of Lookout Santa Cruz, a digital news startup, rushed to the scene. The team, assisted by a reporter from the Long Beach Post, provided some of the most comprehensive and definitive coverage of the ecological disaster in the region.
Atmospheric rivers occur when huge amounts of water vapor in the atmosphere stall over flooding-prone watersheds, causing heavy rainfall and storms. Nine of these wrought extreme damage to Santa Cruz, causing heavy flooding and mudslides. The result was two destroyed piers and damage to more than 1,000 homes and businesses. The 10-person team at Lookout persevered against the elements and spread across the region, providing the only source of up-to-date news about the storm in the county. The single TV news station had left the county, the local radio station had stopped broadcasting in December 2022 and the daily paper mostly ran wire coverage on the weather.
It became obvious to the Lookout team that this news was essential for its community. Lookout dropped its paywall. The team published more than 100 stories and live blog updates over the course of the storms. The storm coverage stories were viewed over half a million times in January alone. The reporting was included in twice-daily newsletters, email and text alerts, and more than 150 posts on social media.
Lookout’s diligence and dedication to its community didn’t end there. After the storms, the Lookout team covered the aftermath of the storm, adding context and raising important questions about the official response to the storms. The team unearthed a failed county plan to move an at-risk mobile home from a flooding zone.
For its ceaseless efforts to provide vital, quality and timely news to its local community, the Lookout Santa Cruz team deserves to be commended.
Article by: Leyla Shokoohe