After the deluge, images of impacts and resilience in Pájaro, California
Fourteen months ago, a catastrophic flood upended thousands of lives in Pájaro, a small Central California farmworker town filled with immigrants who speak mostly Spanish or Indigenous languages. A relentless series of atmospheric rivers transformed the inviting Pájaro River into a malevolent foe that charged through a crumbling levee and engulfed the coastal community in floodwaters. Regional and state officials knew a levee break was inevitable—it had failed at least four times before—but didn’t prioritize desperately needed repairs for a town populated by low-income farmworkers. … A group of Pájaro residents explored the impacts of climate change on their town through a very personal lens as part of the Pájaro PhotoVoice Project, organized by the nonprofit climate justice organization Regeneración. The photos will be on display at Somos Watsonville, a nonprofit community center, until June 7.
Related flooding article:
- Manteca Bulletin: Manteca Unified School District owns 39 parcels in 200-year floodplain