Monterey County flooding: crews make progress on Pajaro levee breach

Let's move to the south now where crews in Monterey County are making some progress in fixing a levy break along the Pajaro River. The county released this drone video showing work happening on the levy. Heavy equipment crews moving rock into that gap to close off the river and stop the flow of water. This work is going on 24 hours a day, large lights set up for workers at night. This morning there are a number of reports that city and county leaders had been warned for years the Pajaro River could flood. No improvements or repairs were made to the aging levees though, in part because the county didn't have money to do the work. Some county leaders tell the chronicle that's partially because low-income farming communities such as theirs are lower on the list for federal funding.

We had so many years of drought and they could have fixed the levy way back and they didn't. So this is the second time it happened. Back in 1995, same thing. We lost everything. I think that the levy could have been fixed 27 years ago because it erupted from the same location and I think nothing got fixed. While flood waters and Pajaro have begun to recede, thousands of people are still evacuated. It'll likely be weeks before they can return home to survey the damage.

Highway 1 is still shut down between Watsonville and Castroville. Now flooding is threatening the Pajaro Bridge. CHP says the levee break has eroded the embankment around the bridge. Caltrans engineers are there and say the bridge is stable for now but they won't reopen that road soon because of all the damage. So this means anyone trying to get between Santa Cruz and Monterey County has to go all the way up to Highway 129 and jump on Highway 101.

Monterey County flooding, Pajaro River flooding, Pajaro flood, KTVU, Highway 1 closed