Massive levee project to protect Pajaro and Watsonville gets underway

PAJARO, Calif. - It was March 2023 when a levee burst, completely flooding the community of Pajaro in Monterey County. Now a massive new levee project is underway to give up to 100-year flood protection for Pajaro and surrounding communities.

On Monday, crews were at work cutting down huge eucalyptus trees where the first phase of the project will be built. A brand new levee will go in along Corralitos Creek in Watsonville and will be part of an overall 13-mile levee system which will be built or upgraded to give protection from the potential of a 100-year flood event. 

"This is a huge project. Probably one of the biggest engineering projects this valley has seen probably since the construction of Highway 1," said Mark Strudley, the executive director of the Pajaro Regional Flood Management Agency.  

It was late at night on March 10th, 2023, that the levee upstream from Pajaro burst, flooding the entire community and forcing residents to evacuate for weeks. At that time, KTVU saw severe damage at the "Mexican Meat Market" in Pajaro, which has been run by owner Maria Martinez for more than 40 years. Martinez said she is glad the levees are being improved. "That is good," Martinez said. "We are still trying to recover but it is still not 100% yet." 

The San Francisco District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is overseeing construction of the project. 

"Safety is always first for the Army Corps of Engineers and that has to be our priority every step of the way," said Tommy Williams, the Deputy District Engineer.  

Williams said environmental conditions are very different now than when the original levees were built in the 1940s.   

"It is actually not just about the design and the technology that goes into the levees it is also about the modeling and the system itself today. We all know the climate changes and floods are becoming more frequent and more severe and damages more extreme," Williams said. 

The levee project is not just about the people and homes – but also about protecting the agricultural lands which are the lifeblood of the community and provide thousands of jobs. "So this project is not just going to provide protection for residents, it is going to provide protection and economic viability for the agriculture business here as well as the other business in the city of Watsonville and the town of Pajaro," Strudley said. 

The overall project cost is about $600 million paid for by both the state and federal governments. It will be built in five phases with full completion possible in about 6 years if everything runs according to plan.