More aid to the residents of Pajaro is being patched together, but the gaps in help and communication are complicating post-flood recovery efforts. More than 100 people remain at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds shelter as Pajaro evacuees have scattered throughout the area, seeking temporary housing. Meanwhile, many farmworkers’ jobs are in limbo as the flooded fields prevent work and have caused almost $50 million in farm loss, says Santa Cruz County Farm Bureau president Dennis Webb.
Weather
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Zelda’s reopens following significant storm damage
After getting pounded inside and out by storm surge in January, Zelda’s on the Beach is back seven days a week at its oceanfront spot on the Esplanade in Capitola Village. “I’m glad to hang up my nail bags and put my apron back on,” kitchen manager Josh Whitby says. “We’re open and ready to have some fun.”
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Highway 9 overnight closures set for next week; two-way traffic could return by midweek
A half-mile section of Highway 9 hasn’t seen two-way traffic since it was struck by a New Year’s Eve landslide. Crews will work to put finishing touches on repairs next week to fully reopen the key artery through the Santa Cruz Mountains.
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Santa Cruz is the only U.S. small-craft harbor with its own dredge — and it was a savior during winter storms
The crew manning the Santa Cruz Harbor dredge was tasked with keeping the harbor mouth clear from excessive storm debris this winter, at which they succeeded. But the harbor, just down the coast from the San Lorenzo River, requires more consistent dredging than most other harbors in the country.
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‘This is beyond’: Recovery underway in Santa Cruz Mountains after wind-whipped trees crush dozens of homes
The March 21 wind event that “sounded like death” left homes and property damaged throughout the Santa Cruz Mountains, with some residents still displaced after trees weighing several tons splintered their homes.
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How a Pajaro Middle School teacher and her students are navigating recovery after Pajaro River levee breach
More than 400 students from Pajaro Middle School are now learning in makeshift classroom setups at Watsonville’s Lakeview Middle after their school flooded in March. “I find myself just feeling guilty that I’m trying to make the situation feel normal,” said Ebelin Mata, who teaches sixth and seventh graders. “When it’s not.”
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Santa Cruz to provide update Thursday on West Cliff one-way pilot project, traffic plan
A stretch of West Cliff Drive between Woodrow Avenue and Columbia Street was converted to one-way in January. Since then, traffic on Oxford Way, just off of Woodrow, has increased noticeably. Residents have raised concerns with city staff, prompting discussions about turning Oxford Way into a cul-de-sac ahead of a plan to extend the one-way section of West Cliff to roughly a mile.
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Newsom asks Biden to declare a major disaster in Santa Cruz, Monterey counties and others
The failure of the Pajaro River levee on March 11, putting 33,000 people under evacuation orders or warnings and flooding a largely low-income farmworker community, offered yet another generational disaster for the Central Coast this winter.
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Pajaro Valley Pride, Fruition Brewing host fundraiser for Pajaro farmworkers
Watsonville’s Fruition Brewing will be the scene Sunday as Pajaro Valley Pride puts on a drag and burlesque show as part of relief efforts for farmworkers affected by the catastrophic flooding that followed the Pajaro River levee failure. The fundraiser also like a raffle for prizes including gift cards for Mentone, Lupulo and Pacific Cookie Company and a tasting experience at Big Basin Vineyards.
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In the Public Interest: Local officials turn up heat on Newsom, Biden over relief, recovery in Pajaro
In this edition of In the Public Interest, Christopher Neely outlines some of the many challenges facing Pajaro after the catastrophic flooding that followed the failure of the Pajaro River levee and what elected officials from Santa Cruz and Monterey counties are doing to get heard in Sacramento and Washington.