Monterey County levee breach prompts evacuations to many families

PAJARO, Calif. (KION-TV): Jesus Padilla is one of more than a thousand people who had to evacuate the town of Pajaro after the Pajaro river levee breached overnight.

"I feel a bit stressed at the moment and we have our dog at the house and I came to rescue it." said Padilla.

Padilla had to evacuate multiple times before, but this time he said his home suffered some damage.

"Right now, the house is filled with water." said Padilla.

Some people said it's the worst flooding they've seen so far -- one man said he had to evacuate twice this year. However, Monterey County officials said their main priority is to evacuate everyone as safe as possible.

Cal Fire said the number of evacuees is in the high hundreds if not thousands, they also said they had to bring additional crews to rescue people safely.

"We do have boat crews from Menlo Park, swift water teams, high water vehicles with the National Guard, they've been out here effecting these rescues safely." said Curtis Rhodes, Fire Captain for Cal Fire San Benito - Monterey.

Cal Fire also said they don't know when people can go back to their homes. They say they've seen the water fluctuate within the levee.

However, with more rain on the way -- they don't want to speculate and are concerned if they let people back into their homes, they could get trapped inside.

As of right now, Cal Fire reports no injuries in this rescue effort.