As the storm impacts persist, Monterey County’s messaging is surprisingly lacking in urgency.

Greetings from a dry, warm indoor space that I am so grateful to have today. 

Sara Rubin here, stopping to appreciate that I have a roof over my head and that the power is on—things that on most days, I take for granted. 

The chaos caused by the weather continues to manifest in various forms all over Monterey County, impacting thousands of people in different ways. Thousands are displaced due to flooding, others unable to get to and from work due to road closures. Residents of Pajaro are likely not going to be cleared to return home for months. The power is out again for thousands of addresses on the Monterey Peninsula and surrounding area. 

Only half-jokingly, I said earlier today that I expect the ocean to turn to blood or a plague of locusts to arrive any moment. 

The mixture of flooding and downed trees and power outages continue to deliver a stop-and-start, fast and slow emergencies, and all hands are on deck. The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office reported yesterday that they had aided in the rescue of some 170 people who were stranded in areas under evacuation. Anyone who gets stranded and is unable to safely evacuate due to flooding is advised to call 911 for assistance.

Amazingly, as of this writing, there have been no reported deaths in connection to the storm impacts, and only two injuries.

Some of that, undoubtedly, is due to the public being prepared and heeding safety recommendations. Some of it is due simply to luck. On the preparedness side, I became accustomed in January to a steady drumbeat from Monterey County officials urging caution—the gist of their reasoning was that it’s better to overreact than to under-prepare. 

I wrote in this newsletter in January about why the messaging was so consistent, even if the emergency materialized slowly, or not at all. So I have been surprised that this time around, two months later, the messaging has been much more reactive. Do county officials worry they’ve created a “boy who cried wolf” effect, and people won’t listen? Did they do too much over-preparing last time, and they’re trying to tone it down? 

I wish I had answers to those questions, because I was persuaded in January that over-cautious public safety messaging was the way to go. 

At a county press conference on Sunday at 2pm, I asked about the potential this time around for road flooding and a “Monterey Peninsula Island” effect, and was told, in essence, not to worry. “We are preparing for that possibility, but we are not anticipating that happening,” County Communications Director Nick Pasculli said. “We are watching that very closely. We are prepared.”

But the public had not been advised to prepare. And given Pasculli’s report, it didn’t sound like we should be—the potential was there, but we would get plenty of notice. 

Instead, at 8:14pm that night, the county sent out a press release titled, “Salinas River crest may cause significant flooding west of Salinas: Residents urged to prepare for possible cut-off between Highway 68, Salinas.” The announcement read, “The forecasted impacts have evolved over the last 24 hours.” But the change in tone came after just five hours. 

I asked about this seeming change in tone—from over-prepared to urgent and reactive—at a subsequent briefing the next day. 

“We are measuring our messaging this time,” Pasculli said. “We were fine-tuning it.” 

Do you think the county is getting it right this time, or did they get it right last time? Is the drumbeat of precautions overkill or is it helpful? I welcome your input. 

Most importantly, stay safe out there.