The Pajaro Recovery Fund, one year assessment
MONTEREY COUNTY, Calif. (KION-TV) -- One year after the Pajaro flooding, Monterey County is continuing its recovery with millions in relief funds and key infrastructure projects on the horizon.
The county says over one million dollars in assistance has been given to affected families since March.
Which includes the program's first phase which provided over $464,000 to replace spoiled food.
Over $633,000 has also distributed during pease tho which accounts for unmet needs and is still ongoing.
The North County Fire District is expanding resources to support future recovery efforts, including new equipment to assist during future storms.
"This state of the art vehicle can navigate in up to 50 inch of floodwater and see at least 12 passengers allowing us to reach residents that are trapped in flooded areas," Joel Mendoza, Chief, North County Fire District said. "In addition, we'll be receiving one new holland tractor and a trailer that goes with and a flood rescue boat.
While the recovery has made progress, many residents have expressed concerns about communication during the flooding, especially with emergency alerts.
"We did install alert and warning advertisements on billboards in the community of park road to increase community awareness of the emergency alert system, as well as several registration days in which we actively sat with residents to enroll them in the emergency alert system," Kelsey Scanlon, Director, Department of Emergency Management said.
Officials say that recovery efforts have made significant strides with over 70% of cases being addressed and about 20% still pending.
"We're at in the phase two of the remaining amount of the 688, about 385 households were identified as having additional destruction or needs," Ray Cancino, CEO Community Bridges said.
The county is also focusing on supporting local businesses, with phase 1 approving over 1 million dollars in funding.
"We've issued close, 89, 92 applications we received and as a part of this event, the phase one, we've approved 34 applications and we've approved, up to $1.25 million in funding for the businesses, Cancino said.
Local officials are also focusing on long term investments to help rebuild Pajaro’s infrastructure.
This includes sidewalk repairs, street lighting upgrades and flood prevention systems.
The library is set for repairs in the coming years as well.
"The library, as you know, was heavily damaged during the 2023 plover levee breach," Randy Ishii, Director, Public Works, Facilities and Parks said. With repairs expected to begin in January of 2025. Due to the cost of required repairs, flooded areas are only partially funded at this time. Thus, in early 2025, the board will consider reallocating renovation funds for the repairs as well as other funding sources."
There were many questions raised by community members in Wednesday meeting.
The county saying that they are still working to try and help the people affected by the Pajaro floods, even one year after receiving funding.
