PAJARO – Amid a backdrop of submerged strawberry fields, Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis toured the Monterey County community of Pajaro, which is still feeling the impacts of the March 11 levee breach that has left the community flooded.
Kounalakis joined Monterey County Supervisor Glenn Church, Cal Fire employees, agricultural representatives and community leaders Wednesday evening for a tour of the community and to meet with farmers affected by the flood.
On March 11, three months of heavy rains caused a breach in the Pajaro River levee, causing extensive flooding to the area and evacuations of its 2,000 residents, many of whom returned to damaged homes.
One of the largest impacts has been on the agricultural industry, which is very prevalent in northern Monterey County. As fields have flooded, many farms’ crops have fallen behind schedule and many farmworkers have not had opportunities to work.
“Right next to us, there’s about 3 feet of water on the strawberry fields,” Abel Gonzalez, CFO of Healthy Harvest Berries, told the Sentinel. “Those fields are almost sill under water.”
One of Kounalakis’ stops was at Healthy Harvest, a family owned farm that has grown and shipped strawberries since 2006. The fields are flooded, and the floor of the office building’s reception area is covered by a 4-inch blanket of wet mud, making conditions very slippery.
“The office is about the total loss, but on the fields, we’re gonna evaluate the damage until it dries a little bit,” Gonzalez said. “It’s gonna take time, but it’s a lot of damage.”
Gonzalez said the flooding has had a major impact on staffing.
“There is about 300 employees with no job at the moment because of this disaster,” he said. “They used to be working at this time, but people are not working right now.”
Despite the local impacts, California Strawberry Commission Communications Director Jeff Cardinale said the overall berry industry should be unaffected, as the area accounts for about 5% of the industry.
“We’re expecting a good harvest at this point still,” he said. “The number could go up from 95% once the waters have receded and we have an idea what’s underneath the water. For this particular area, it’s devastating, but for the state, it’s looking like a good crop.”
Cardinale also does not predict statewide price increases for berries.
“By Mother’s Day, 99% of the strawberries in grocery stores around the country will be from California,” he said.
Kounalakis walked through the office and the shipping building and got to watch drone footage provided by Cal Fire of the flooded valley. Along the way, she asked questions about the force of the water and the total acreage impacted. She was told approximately 2,250 acres of strawberry fields were affected.
Kounalakis told the Sentinel that seeing the impacts was quite a shock.
“Going through and seeing the devastation to the fields and the farms and the strawberry and berry crops, it’s hard to imagine how much water breached through the levee and flooded this area as quickly as it did with the force that it did,” she said. “It’s terrible to see all these crops wiped out.”
Kounalakis said she appreciated how hard farmers have been working to respond to the disaster.
“It’s obviously not what they intended to be doing right now,” she said. “They’re looking at their crops maturing and getting out there and picking, and instead they’re dealing with a major cleanup operation as well as serious financial impacts to their businesses. They’re also dealing with impacts to their employees and their staff.”
Kounalakis said the state has allocated $60 million for the immediate relief effort and deployed the National Guard to assist during the emergency. On Tuesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom called for President Joe Biden to approve a Major Disaster Declaration for Pajaro and allow for federal funding “to help farmers and help families get back on their feet,” Kounalakis said. She later issued a statement urging Biden to approve the declaration.
“Pajaro desperately needs federal and state support as they work to recover from this month’s devastating flood,” she wrote. “Low-income communities like Pajaro are often overlooked and disproportionately suffer the impacts of climate change and natural disasters. It’s our duty to step up and help this community recover all that they have lost.”
During the tour, Kounalakis asked Monterey County Communications Director Nicholas Pasculli how the declaration would be able to help support the relief efforts.
“It’s gonna make a huge difference not just for Monterey County, but for the other counties that are part of that pact,” Pasculli responded. “It’s devastating, and what makes it harder is we have people that are essential workers, and they don’t have much. We want to make them whole.”
Kounalakis also visited other local berry farms and had a caravan tour of the farms and homes in Pajaro that were damaged.
Source: www.mercurynews.com