Pothole problems plague Pajaro after devastating flood

PAJARO, Calif. (KION-TV) -- A week has passed since the town of Pajaro flooded, forcing hundreds of people to evacuate their homes.

Work continues to reopen the Monterey County portion of the town that sits along the Santa Cruz County line and Watsonville.

During a media briefing Saturday Cal Fire says its inspection of the structures in the town is done and five homes are considered "destroyed."

Those homes sit on the southwest side of Pajaro, according to the fire agency. Overall 400 homes were impacted in some way by flooding.

The County Public Works office is now working tirelessly to fix a large amount of potholes that formed as a result of the flooding and rain in the area over the last few months to start 2023.

Some of which will require some outside help.

"There are some that are so severe we'll have to have contractors perform work on them," says County Public Works Director Randy Ishii. "There's a handful that will need to be addressed by contractors like the one on Salinas Road at the southern part of the community."

Ishii announced a sewer high pressure pipeline may have been damaged, too, that serves Pajaro, Bay Farms and the Las Lomas community.

As for the levee, the county says the entire initial breach is now filled with rock.

Crews are going to continue to inspect the culverts along the levee to see if there's any additional maintenance needed.

Meanwhile, Monterey County Supervisor Glenn Church called for the levee to be fixed overall.

"We have a plan in place, there's $400 million to get this levee fixed once and for all," says Church. "That is going to be done."

The County Public Works office says much of the debris and mud that was in the roads in and around Pajaro have been cleared.

Once the roads are cleared of dangers the county previously said it would allow Environmental Health staff and PG&E to begin their assessments.

It's still unknown as to when people will be allowed to go back home.