The flooding of the community of Pajaro has left many families without incomes and potentially without homes to return to, and disrupted instruction for about 900 students in the Pajaro Valley Unified School District. Nearly 2,000 people were evacuated after the Pajaro River levee failed over the weekend, leaving residents with no idea when they’ll be allowed to return.
Pajaro River levee
Posted inLatest News
Age, drought, rodents and neglect weaken California levees, heightening flood danger
The Pajaro River levee failure points to hazards that California has yet to address in many areas where communities are vulnerable, experts say.
Posted inLatest News
With another atmospheric river imminent, temporary Pajaro levee fix expected by Monday evening
Storm Central keeps you updated as another atmospheric river rolls through Santa Cruz County. Check back here as Lookout…
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Before disastrous flood, officials knew Pajaro River levee could fail but took no action
For years, experts had been warning Monterey and Santa Cruz County that the levee along the Pajaro River could fail.
Posted inLatest News
Hundreds ordered to evacuate as Pajaro River breaches its levee in Monterey County
Monterey County officials said the Pajaro River breached around midnight Friday about 3 miles upstream from Pajaro, displacing around 1,700 residents in the community just across the Santa Cruz County line. The river hit 29.23 feet overnight Saturday, its highest level since January 1997. The California National Guard said it helped rescue 56 people from the floodwaters.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Three tense years lie ahead as Watsonville residents await the Pajaro levee project’s fixes
Mark Strudley of the new Pajaro Regional Flood Management Agency hasn’t been on the job for long and hasn’t even had time yet to build a staff or find an office in Watsonville. The longtime Boulder Creek resident lays out the race against time to build the levee project before the next devastating storms. There are many hurdles, including agency coordination.
Posted inLatest News
Watsonville residents near Pajaro River tributaries seek answers in aftermath of Santa Cruz County storms
Those who live in the lowest-lying areas adjacent to the Pajaro River’s tributaries knew that flooding was a possibility, but most had never seen it for themselves. When a weather system predicted to drop far less rainfall than it did arrived on New Year’s Eve, it created a perfect storm of chaos for many residents — particularly some of the area’s oldest and most vulnerable in the neighborhood known as The Villages.
Posted inWatsonville / Pajaro
Pajaro River levee system to undergo emergency repairs Wednesday after showing signs of seepage
The County of Santa Cruz said late Tuesday that it would carry out emergency repairs to the Pajaro River levee system, which was showing signs of seepage after more than a week of heavy rains. The stretch of river that runs through Watsonville has continued to steadily rise since Monday and measured over 31 feet Tuesday afternoon (32 feet is considered flood stage) after more storms swept through Santa Cruz County.
Posted inLatest News
‘There’s very little we can do.’ Watsonville residents eye fragile levee system with growing sense of alarm
More heavy rain is set to hit the low-lying areas of Santa Cruz County this week. In Watsonville, memories are still fresh for many of the ruinous floods of 1995, which brought about two deaths and almost $100 million in damages, due to a breach in the aging system of levees on the river. More flooding followed in 1997 and 1998, and the levees almost failed again in 2017.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Pajaro River project receives long-promised flood of money — $67 million in federal funds
The funding will be used in the first phase of construction for the project in both Santa Cruz and Monterey counties, adding onto the previous $4.6 million in funding toward the preconstruction, engineering and design phases of the project.
