California flood breaks levee; 8,500 under warning

WATSONVILLE, Calif. (AP) — Residents of a northern California farming community known for growing strawberries were forced to evacuate Saturday morning after the Pajaro River levee broke due to flooding caused by an atmospheric system that hit the state.

On Monterey County’s Central Coast, more than 8,500 people were facing eviction orders and warnings as of Saturday, including about 1,700 residents, many of them Latino farmworkers, from the unincorporated community in Pajaro company.

Officials said the levee breach was about 100 feet (30.5 meters) wide. Crews had gone door-to-door on Friday afternoon urging residents to get out before the rains set in, but some stayed put and had to be pulled out of the water early Saturday.

First responders and the California National Guard rescued more than 50 people overnight in Pajaro. Video showed a member of the Guard helping a driver out of a car stuck in waist-deep floodwater.

“We had hoped to avoid and prevent this situation, but the worst case scenario came with the Pajaro River flooding and the levee breaking around midnight,” tweeted Luis Alejo, chairman of the Monterey County Board of Supervisors.

Alejo described the flooding as “massive” and estimated it will take months to repair the damage.

The Pajaro River separates Santa Cruz and Monterey counties in the area flooded Saturday. Floodwaters that have reached wells in the area could be contaminated with chemicals, authorities have pointed out, and residents have been urged not to drink or cook with tap water as it could make them sick. .

Authorities had been working along the levee hoping to shore it up when it broke between midnight Friday and early Saturday morning. Crews began repairing the sea wall at dawn on Saturday as residents slept in evacuation centers.

Oliver González, 12, told The Associated Press that he, his mother and aunt were rescued around 5 a.m. Saturday in Pajaro. He took his laptop, cell phone and some important documents, but left many behind in his haste to leave.

“I’m a little scared,” he said hours later from an evacuation center near Watsonville. “My mother’s car was left in the water.”

Anais Rodríguez, 37, said first responders knocked on the door of her home shortly after midnight. Her family packed four days worth of clothes and made their way to safety. She and her two children, husband and parents, and their dog Mila, arrived at the shelter about an hour later with few answers about what it will mean for their community in the future.

Weather-related power outages affected more than 17,000 customers in Monterey County Saturday night, according to the governor’s Office of Emergency Services.

Governor Gavin Newsom’s office said Saturday it was monitoring the situation in Pajaro.

“Our hearts go out to everyone affected and the state has stepped up to support the community,” the governor’s office wrote on Twitter.

The Pajaro Valley is a coastal agricultural area known for growing strawberries, apples, cauliflower, broccoli and artichokes. National brands like Driscoll’s Strawberries and Martinelli’s are based in the area.

In 1995, the Pajaro River levees broke, submerging 2,500 acres (1,011 hectares) of farmland and the community of Pajaro. Two people were killed and the flood caused damage of around $100 million. A state law, passed last year, earmarked public funds for a levee project. Its construction was to begin in 2024.

The storm marked the state’s 10th winter atmospheric river, storms that brought huge amounts of rain and snow to the state and helped ease three-year drought conditions. State reservoirs, which had reached shockingly low levels, are now well above average for this time of year, prompting state officials to release water from dams to help control flooding and make room for additional rain.

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Dazio reported from Los Angeles.