Just months after a levee failure inundated the small farmworker community of Pajaro, Calif., and sent thousands fleeing, cracks have already begun forming in the regional agency tasked with maintaining flood infrastructure.
After initially agreeing to provide a one-time payment of almost $1 million to help with infrastructure repairs and maintenance in the flood zone along the Pajaro River and its tributaries, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors voted this week to withdraw the funding, saying the money was needed for other flooding issues in the county.
The move has dealt a blow to the Pajaro Regional Flood Management Agency — a joint powers authority created two years ago by the city of Watsonville and the counties of Santa Cruz and Monterey — and highlighted the difficulties local governments face when attempting to upgrade aging levees in an era of weather whiplash.
