Pajaro flood project in Watsonville area gets jumpstart from feds
100-year Pajaro River flood protection project
Governor Gavin Newsom highlighted progress on the Pajaro River Flood Risk Management Project, which will provide 100-year flood risk reduction to the City of Watsonville, the Town of Pajaro and surrounding agricultural areas.
WATSONVILLE, Calif. - A long-planned project to protect the Pajaro and Watsonville communities from another major flood took a big step forward Tuesday with the signing of an agreement between a local flood control agency and the federal government to begin funding the reconstruction of the Pajaro River levee system.
Elected representatives joined members of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and representatives from the state's Department of Water Resources in Watsonville to mark the signing of the agreement, which will bring protection to an area that sustained major impacts from flooding in March, when a 110-foot section of the levee near Pajaro overtopped.
U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose, U.S. Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Santa Cruz, state Sen. John Laird, D-Santa Cruz, and Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, D-Salinas, attended the ceremony at Watsonville City Hall, along with Santa Cruz County Supervisors Zach Friend and Felipe Hernandez and Monterey County Supervisor Luis Alejo.
They were there to mark the finalization of a Project Partnership Agreement, known as a PPA, which secures funding from the federal government by establishing a local partner agency, which in this case is the Pajaro Regional Flood Management Agency.
The reconstruction plan will provide 100-year flood protection to the river levee system, which was built in 1949 and was identified by the Corps of Engineers in 1963 to be "inadequate." The new levee system is designed to provide enough of a barrier to prevent a severe flood that has a 1 percent chance of occurring in any given year.
"Today marks a significant moment for the people of Pajaro," Rivas wrote on social media. "The signing of the Project Partnership Agreement marks the beginning of upgrades and repairs to the Pajaro Levee that are long overdue. Thank you to everyone who made this moment possible. Together we will get it done!" he wrote.
Before flooding in March forced the entire town of Pajaro to evacuate, flooding had occurred several times along the river, including major floods in 1995 and 1998.
Nobody died or was seriously injured in March's flooding, but the unincorporated Monterey County town of about 3,500 people near the Santa Cruz County line was ordered to completely evacuate in the middle of the night. Residents could not return for several weeks. Nearly every home was damaged and more than 200 were either seriously damaged or destroyed, according to the governor's office.
U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla called on the Corps of Engineers to expedite the work after years of the project being deferred due to a policy that prioritized funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency depending on the property value being protected by the work.
The $599 million project will involve building 10-foot setback levees and reestablishing 110 acres of historic floodplain. Construction is scheduled to begin next summer.