The storms of 2017 claimed their second life in the Santa Cruz Mountains this week when a newspaper delivery man plunged his car into Kings Creek and drowned.
Lloyd Briggs’ body was found Tuesday, Feb. 21, by Boulder Creek Fire Protection District rescuers, with the assistance of the Ben Lomond Swift Water Rescue Team and the California Highway Patrol, according to Boulder Creek Fire Chief Kevin McClish.
“Be careful on rural roads,” warned McClish.
Briggs was known in the community as a friendly, reliable newspaper-delivery man, who gave subscribers Christmas cards wrapped in their newspaper.
“Lloyd was a great guy and delivered my paper for years in all sorts of miserable conditions in the early a.m.,” said Robert Hampson, Jr., in a Facebook posting “The only time he missed this year was when Kings Creek was blocked by a landslide with giant boulders. I’m sure (this time) he was trying to get in or out for his work.”
McClish said the fire department was first notified about a small Isuzu submerged in Kings Creek about 10 p.m. Monday night. Finding the car empty when they searched it, they looked about 1.5 miles down the creek and came up empty handed.
The next day, Boulder Creek residents Renee and Chris Canabou found Briggs’ body near the Vajrapani Institute for Wisdom Culture, located on the border of Castle Rock Park at 19950 Kings Creek Rd.
“There’s a wet crossing and the man tried to drive across and the current was too strong,” said Chris Canabou in Facebook. “He was a good neighbor and he will be missed.”
During the previous weekend, the body of Eric Cain, 46, a Ben Lomond resident was found in the San Lorenzo River just south of Highlands Park in Ben Lomond.
The Ben Lomond Swift Rescue Team and Felton Fire discovered Cain had drowned after receiving a call that there was a body under water on Brackney.
As of Wednesday, Feb. 22, the cause of death was still being investigated by the county coroner’s office, according to Deputy Sgt. Chris Clark.
