WORLD NEWS | Thousands evacuated as storm breaches California river banks

WATSONVILLE, U.S., March 12 (AP) — The northern California farming community known for its strawberry crops died early Saturday after a levee on the Pajaro River was breached by floodwaters from a new atmospheric river hitting the state. were sometimes forced to evacuate.

Across Monterey County on the Central Coast, more than 8,500 people received evacuation orders and warnings Saturday, including about 1,700 residents from the unincorporated Pajaro community, many of them Latino farm workers.

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Officials said the Pajaro River’s levee breach was about 100 feet (30.48 meters) wide. Crews went door-to-door on Friday afternoon urging residents to leave before the rain fell, but some stayed and had to be evacuated from flood waters early Saturday.

More than 50 people were rescued overnight by first responders and the California National Guard. A video showed a guard helping a driver out of a car that was waist-submerged in water.

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Monterey County Board of Supervisors President Luis Alejo tweeted: “We want to avoid and prevent this from happening, but the worst has come when the Pajaro River floods and bursts its levee around midnight.”

Calling the flooding “huge,” Alejo said the damage would take months to repair.

The Pajaro River separates Santa Cruz and Monterey counties in the area that flooded Saturday.

Officials have been working along the levee in hopes of reinforcing it when it breaches between midnight Friday and around Saturday. While residents slept in evacuation centers, crews began repairing the levee around dawn Saturday.

On Saturday, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said it was monitoring the situation in Pajaro.

“Our thoughts are with everyone affected and the state government has mobilized to support the community,” the governor’s office tweeted.

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

In 1995, the Pajaro River’s levee burst, flooding 2,500 acres (1,011 ha) of farmland and the Pajaro community. Two people were killed and flooding caused nearly $100 million in damage. A state law passed last year advances state funding for the levee project. It is scheduled to start construction in 2024.

State Sen. John Laird, who spearheaded the law and represents the district, said the project is now well-funded, but because of this year’s rains, it’s just poorly timed.

“It’s tragic, we almost got the job done before any storms hit,” he said.

This week’s storms, which marked the state’s 10th atmospheric river of the winter, brought heavy snow and rain to the state and helped ease a three-year drought. State reservoirs, which had dropped to alarmingly low levels, are now well above average for this time of year, prompting state officials to release water from dams to aid flood control and make room for more rainfall.

Across the state Saturday, Californians were battling torrential downpours and rising water levels following the passage of atmospheric rivers. In Tulare County, sheriffs ordered residents living near the Tule River to evacuate, while those near Pozo Creek in Kern County received evacuation warnings. National Weather Service meteorologists issued flood warnings and advisories, imploring motorists to stay off flooded roads.

Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency in 34 counties in recent weeks, and the Biden administration on Friday morning approved a presidential disaster declaration for some counties, a move that will bring more federal aid.

Dubbed the “Pineapple Express” because it brings warm subtropical moisture from the Pacific Ocean from near Hawaii, the atmospheric river is melting the lower part of a huge snowpack in California’s mountains.

Another atmospheric river is already in the forecast for early next week. A third appears to be forming over the Pacific Ocean, and there may be a fourth, said national climatologist Michael Anderson.

Anderson said Friday that California appears to be “on track for a fourth year of drought” ahead of the early winter storm series. “We’re in a very different situation now,” he added.

The National Weather Service predicted Saturday that an intensified cycle of rain and snow would be expected Monday through Wednesday, with heavy flooding possible through midweek on the state’s central coast, San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys and the southern Sierra Nevada foothills.

Another round of heavy snow is expected in the Sierras and higher elevations by midweek, the weather service said.

Snowpack in the Sierra Nevada mountains, which provide about one-third of the state’s water supply, is already more than 180 percent of its April 1 average, when it was at its historic peak. Officials reported that as of Saturday morning, 32 inches (81 centimeters) had fallen at the Rose Mountain ski resort on the edge of Reno, Nevada.

Snowpacks at high altitudes are so heavy that they are expected to soak up rain, but snow below 4,000 feet (1,219 meters) could start to melt, potentially causing flash flooding, forecasters said. (Associated Press)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)