Two years after Pajaro flooded, efforts continue to protect the land and people from future disasters.

Erik Chalhoub here, thinking back to two years ago today, March 11, 2023, when sections of the Pajaro River levee, under pressure from heavy precipitation and rushing water filling it to near capacity, broke apart, flooding the town of Pajaro and forcing hundreds of people to evacuate.

While today Pajaro appears to be back to normal from an outsider’s perspective, the impacts are still being felt under the surface by residents and businesses. You can read this story by Weekly staff writer Celia Jiménez from a year ago that outlines some of the challenges the Pajaro community faces.

After decades of inaction, local, state and federal officials broke ground on the Pajaro River Flood Risk Management Project in October, which is expected to provide 100-year flood risk reduction to the area by constructing levees and improvements along the lower Pajaro River and its tributaries. 

The first section to be built will be along Corralitos Creek in Watsonville. Since that October ceremony, the Pajaro Regional Flood Management Agency and other agencies have been working to acquire property and demolish structures along the creek to pave the way for construction of the levee walls.

That work is nearly complete, but it hit a snag with Pacific Gas and Electric Company, which needs to relocate a power line that extends over the creek. Delays by the utility company, namely due to its backlog of projects, have risked pushing the start of construction into 2026, beyond the originally anticipated date of summer 2025, according to a report by PRFMA Executive Director Mark Strudley.

PRFMA and PG&E reached an agreement to expedite the relocation of the line to June. The agency’s board will discuss the agreement during a meeting tomorrow, March 12 in Watsonville. The Monterey County Planning Commission will also hear an update on recovery efforts tomorrow. 

As that work continues, another project is in the planning stages to further climate-harden the overall Pajaro River Watershed, which covers 1,300 square miles, extending from Morgan Hill in the north, through Pajaro and most of San Benito County to the south.

About 80 people attended a workshop at the Aromas Grange yesterday, March 10 to share their ideas about how best to manage the watershed and their concerns about the growing number of climate-fueled disasters.

Flooding and fire were top of mind for many of the participants, says Marcus Mendiola, water conservation and outreach specialist for the Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency.

The Pajaro River Watershed was one of five statewide to receive a $2 million grant from the California Department of Water Resources to develop a plan for climate resiliency. PV Water was chosen to lead those efforts locally.

Mendiola says yesterday’s meeting was the beginning of a year-long process to create the plan. A series of community meetings, both in-person and remote, are scheduled in the coming months to gather feedback and receive direction.

The goal is to have a plan in place by April 2026, Mendiola says, so the outlined projects will be in a good position to receive funding from the 2024 voter-approved Proposition 4, a $10 billion bond that focuses on the state’s efforts to battle climate change. 

“We’ve taken a big step forward with this first meeting, developing a vision for what people see as a resilient watershed 20 to 30 years from now,” he says.

What are some projects you think will help prepare the watershed for the future?