LOS ANGELES — Significant federal relief is finally on the way for displaced and devastated Pajaro residents, officials said, following weeks of pleas from locals and leaders of the unincorporated Monterey County community since the region was inundated during strong winter storms that slammed California.
The major disaster declaration signed late Monday by President Joe Biden for Monterey and surrounding counties will bring long-awaited aid and other resources from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to flooded and storm-battered communities across California.
Roughly 3,000 residents of Pajaro, many of them migrant farmworkers who speak Spanish or Indigenous languages, were displaced or trapped in their homes after a levee breached on the Pajaro River last month. Within hours of the levee failure, streets, homes and businesses were under several feet of water.
"The people of Pajaro do so much to put food on the tables of millions of Americans, and they are now needing the support and assistance of our federal and state agencies to recover from these devastating floods," Monterey County Supervisor Luis Alejo tweeted Monday. "Many have lost so much, and must be supported to recover from this extreme hardship. We are relieved that help is on its way!"
The declaration approves increased federal support for Kern, Mariposa, Monterey, San Benito, Santa Cruz, Tulare and Tuolumne counties. Affected residents there will be eligible for FEMA individual assistance programs, which can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, as well as low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, according to the White House announcement.
For weeks, desperate Pajaro residents and local leaders have pleaded for additional assistance, but California officials said the damage in the small community, while great, didn't reach the threshold for a major federal disaster, limiting how FEMA could step in.
To reach that threshold, state leaders broadened their request to include additional counties, such as Tulare and Kings, that also experienced widespread flooding from the storms.
"We're thrilled that the president signed the declaration of disaster for our county as well as our neighboring counties," said Nicholas Pasculli, a spokesperson for Monterey County. "This is a big, big step in getting the people of Pajaro (help) ... to get them back whole."
Last month, Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom secured a more limited presidential emergency declaration for a number of California counties, but many Monterey County officials said that fell short of the assistance Pajaro and other communities needed.
Newsom requested the major disaster declaration March 28, saying these regions had been "bombarded by storm after storm with little-to-no time to recover."
He named Pajaro as well as Porterville, in Tulare County, as specific communities that suffered significant flood damage and could still be threatened by future rising waters. The winter storms continued to endanger "lives and property while creating a disaster that is beyond the capabilities of state and local government," Newsom's request said.
The newly approved major disaster declaration will provide direct aid to individuals and businesses that suffered losses from the storm, including housing assistance, food aid, counseling, and medical and legal services, according to a news release from the governor's office.
More than 900 buildings in Pajaro were damaged in the flooding, according to George Nunez, division chief of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Officials had known for decades that the levee that breached on the Pajaro River was vulnerable to failing, but repairs were never prioritized, according to interviews and records reviewed by The Times. One official said last month that an improvement project didn't pencil out, in part, because "it's a low-income area. It's largely farmworkers that live" there.
Renters, homeowners, businesses and governmental agencies will receive much-needed assistance from the federal major disaster declaration, Pasculli said. Though the flood devastation reached its "biggest magnitude" in Pajaro, he said, southern Monterey County also sustained damage from severe flooding, as did county infrastructure and agricultural businesses up and down Salinas Valley.
The federal declaration will also provide FEMA assistance to public agencies and some nonprofits in Calaveras, Los Angeles, Monterey and Tulare counties for "emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged by the severe winter storms, straight-line winds, flooding, landslides, and mudslides," the White House statement said.
———
