Monterey County officials trying to help Pajaro move forward

MONTEREY COUNTY, CALIF. (KION-TV)- It's been almost a week since the levee was breached and people still can't get into the town.

Roads getting in are still blocked off.

County agencies and groups like United Way are trying to help families according to President of United Way Katy Castagna.

“The best route forward is to go with trusted local partners and those community-based organizations who know the community, who are used to serving it in good times and tough times are the ones best positioned to provide that assistance in an equitable and fair way,” Castagna said.

Repairing and reconstructing the levee is also top of mind for the county. Things like advanced funding from the state and new reconstruction materials are helping make this happen.

In a statement, interim director of the Water Resources Agency Lew Bauman said quote: 

“The existing levee break will be repaired by the end of the week. Rock fill was used as fill as the interim repair. USACE is on-site advising on additional interim repairs in the months ahead to appropriate design standards.”

We also asked Monterey County reps like County Communications Director and Chief Public Information Officer Nicholas M. Pasculli how people were notified when the levee was breached. 

“Every single day,” Pasculli said. At the end of the day, we have a debrief and we look at what we did, and what we could have done better. And so those are things that we're constantly looking at and how we can improve in everything we do in all aspects of the public service that we provide to our residents.”

Evacuation shelters will remain open as long as it needs to be so that they can keep helping out evacuees.

We are reaching out to Assembly Member Rivas and Representative Panetta's office about the levee breach.

We are working on getting a response.