Pajaro residents feel 'abandoned' after 2023 flood even with new federal aid
Slow flood recovery for Pajaro as new financial help arrives
Pajaro, a community of 2,800 in Monterey County, is still recovering from a massive flood nearly 2 years later. On Thursday the USDA gave Monterey County $4 Million to help rebuild the community's sewage system which was damaged in the flood. Despite all of the help some feel the community may never fully recover.
Long road to recovery
What we know:
PAJARO, Calif. - While all eyes are currently on the Los Angeles fires and the long road to recovery, the Monterey County community of Pajaro is still recovering from a massive flood in 2023.
More financial help from the federal government arrived Thursday, but some residents believe the town may never fully recover.
A look down Main Street in Pajaro might suggest everything is back to normal. However, the owners of the restaurant Mi Rancho said Pajaro is still a community that is very much hurting.
"She is in debt still because she had great losses and hasn’t gotten any help, and business is really slow because of the flood, so it has just been devastating," said owner Maria Colin through a translator.
Pajaro levee breach
The backstory:
In March 2023, a levee holding back the Pajaro River burst, sending floodwaters through the community. Residents were evacuated in the middle of the night.
Nearly two years later, help is still arriving.
On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture awarded Monterey County a $4 million grant to help rebuild the community’s sewage system, which was badly damaged in the floods.
Local perspective:
"This isn’t really just about fixing pipes. It is an issue of equity for a community that has been facing a lot of neglect. It is an effort to build resilience in this community and to bring things up so we are putting the community on the same footing as more affluent communities," said Monterey County Supervisor Glenn Church, who represents the Pajaro area.
Pajaro is a community of just 2,800, where 88% of residents primarily speak Spanish, according to the latest statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Some residents said figuring out how to access the various government programs has been part of the problem.
$20M in cash assistance arrives for Pajaro flood victims
It has been over a year since a levee break flooded the farming community of Pajaro, and on Wednesday residents lined up for the first day of an expanded recovery financial aid program.
"My parents are older, and they are not the only ones – there is a whole bunch of people like my mother who cannot prove or show the receipts, so they just get frustrated. It is too much paperwork, too much time, too many requirements for something that was not our fault," said Gabriel Colin, the son of restaurant owner Maria Colin.
The Army Corps of Engineers is rebuilding and reinforcing all of the levees around Pajaro, and relief centers helped residents in the months after the floods. However, for some, there is still a feeling of neglect, such as with public beautification projects.
"Other areas, rich areas, get that – Santa Cruz gets that. But you know we don’t see palm trees or the sidewalks being cleaned or houses being painted. Pajaro just seems like it is abandoned," Gabriel Colin said.
Monterey County received $20 million from the state for direct disaster relief, and some of that money will still flow into Pajaro in 2025 for both infrastructure improvements and more direct financial aid for residents and businesses.
The Source: Information for this story comes from interviews, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and previous reporting.