Three years after the Pajaro River levee breached, rebuilding continues at a steady pace.

It’s been three years since the Pajaro River levee crumbled and the river flooded the town of Pajaro, displacing hundreds of people and causing untold amounts of damage to homes and businesses.

Decades in the making, a project to bolster the levee in Pajaro and Watsonville is at last expected to begin construction in earnest this week, but first in Watsonville. Pajaro residents will have to spend a few more winters with the current levee, as the portion that breached and was repaired in 2023 may not begin construction until 2029 or 2030.

Mark Strudley, executive director of the Pajaro Regional Flood Management Agency, says the Pajaro River Flood Risk Management Project takes years of effort behind the scenes, and support from the federal and state governments, before heavy equipment arrives on the scene.

That includes moving Pacific Gas & Electric utilities, as well as sewer lines. It also involves purchasing properties, and making sure those landowners are compensated for their losses, he says. The project must also be creatively designed in order to minimize the impacts to properties along the levee.

“Three years later, getting construction started may seem like a long time, and it is,” Strudley says. “It’s a complicated process that unfortunately takes a long time to get to the starting line of construction.”

The cost of the $599 million project is shared by the state and federal government. But when the Trump administration cut $38.5 million in funding for the project in 2025, it put future construction of the levee in jeopardy.

The project received good news in February, as U.S. Senators Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff announced they had secured $54 million in federal funding for the levee, filling in what was cut and giving the next phase of the project a boost. The next three sections of the project are now in the design phase.

For Pajaro residents, rebuilding from the flood continues. The $20 million flood relief package secured by Pajaro’s representatives in the State Legislature was fully expended by the end of 2025, as was required, which included direct aid to residents and businesses, as well as infrastructure improvements.

It also included grants to community organizations, such as to Hijos del Sol and Community Bridges, which celebrated the completion of a giant mural on Salinas Road on Feb. 27.

Community Bridges CEO Ray Cancino estimates about 20 percent of Pajaro’s population moved out of the town since the flood, due to high housing costs and fears over federal immigration policy and the levee.

Commitment from the state and federal governments goes a long way toward helping Pajaro residents feel safe and find opportunities here, Cancino notes.

“But at the same time, we live in a flood zone,” he says. “Mother Nature doesn’t care about engineering. For me, it’s a constant reminder that you need to understand where you live and that you’re never going to be truly safe if you’re living in a flood zone.”