State amps up funding commitment to rebuild Pajaro River levees
The State Department of Water Resources will bolster funding the long-anticipated Pajaro River levee system rebuild after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 496 on Friday — a move critical in protecting residents from frequent floods, officials say. The levees — built in 1949 — haven’t stacked up to heavy rainfall events. For Pajaro Valley residents and farmers it’s been a decades-long saga of evacuations, property damage, and safety risks. In 1995 the river flooded, killing two people, and leaving more than $95 million in damages in its wake.