The long, litigious tail behind Santa Cruz County’s 2023 winter storms still has no end in sight.  But this week, a partner at one of the firms leading the mass tort against local and state government agencies for their alleged failure to protect Pajaro Valley residents and businesses against the destructive floods told Lookout that they are seeking damages in the range of tens of millions of dollars. … The nine lawsuits filed between 2023 and 2024 fault a half-dozen government agencies for the damage caused by a string of atmospheric rivers in the winter of 2023, beginning with the New Year’s Eve floods in Watsonville and ending with the catastrophic breach of the Pajaro River levee on March 11. … The lawsuits allege that the governments not only knew, or should have known, that the levee’s instability posed grave risks to the region’s people and businesses, but that they also failed in their responsibility to address the issue.