The Latest Breaking News from Watsonville

Watsonville Hospital, Down to About Eight Days of Cash, Warns It Could Close Within 6 to 12 Months

Watsonville Community Hospital has about eight days of cash and warns it could close in 6 to 12 months without changes. Maternity services are under review before an Oct. 22 town hall.

Medical Daily · Oct 18

Watsonville Hospital Leaders Say Closing Maternity Ward May Be Needed to Avoid Shutting Down by April 2027

Watsonville Community Hospital may close labor and delivery to stay open past April. No vote yet. What Pajaro Valley families should ask now.

Medical Daily · Oct 4

Amid a disastrous flood, interpreters are a lifeline for Indigenous farmworkers

WATSONVILLE, Calif. — Inside an evacuation center at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds, Maria Adolfo-Morales and a disaster service volunteer listened to a woman describe her concerns in the Mixteco language.

Los Angeles Times · Apr 2, 2023

Residents left in flooded California farm town of Pajaro feel ‘abandoned’ as levees fail

PAJARO, Calif. — Dora Alvarez stood on the balcony of her two-story apartment building Tuesday, holding a garden hose next to a rain gutter and steering the water toward recycling bins below for her family to use after boiling it.

Los Angeles Times · Mar 15, 2023

Before disastrous flood, officials knew Pajaro River levee could fail but took no action

WATSONVILLE, Calif. — Officials have known for decades that the Pajaro River levee that failed this weekend — flooding an entire migrant town and trapping scores of residents — was vulnerable but never prioritized repairs in part because they believed it did not make financial sense to protect the low-income…

Los Angeles Times · Mar 12, 2023

Scenes of devastation along the Pajaro River: ‘The water is still coming in. It’s rising’

WATSONVILLE, Calif. — Crowds of onlookers stood on the Watsonville side of the Pajaro River Bridge looking at the swollen muddy river rushing below and the closed-off, submerged town of Pajaro on the other side.

Los Angeles Times · Mar 12, 2023

Almost 10,000 residents evacuated after heavy rain and thunderstorms in California

A creek bloated by rain destroyed a portion of Main Street in Soquel, Santa Cruz County, forcing many to stay trapped in their homes while emergency services are trying to rescue them

Daily Mirror · Mar 11, 2023

The end of an era: The long, lonely days of Mount Madonna’s last white deer

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Hidden in the redwoods above Watsonville, California, a shy and ghostly beauty once drew crowds but is now destined to live, and die, alone.

Tribune News Service · Feb 8, 2023

California storms persist with deluges, mudslide threats

Actress-comedian Ellen DeGeneres seen in a video of herself standing besides muddy rapids flowing through what she described as a normally dry creek bed near her property, in Santa Barbara, California

The Times of India · Jan 10, 2023

Multiple fatalities are reported after 2 small planes collide in California

The planes crashed at Watsonville Municipal Airport, which does not have a control tower to direct aircraft landing and taking off.

WEKU · Aug 19, 2022