Storm Breaches California River’s Levee, Thousands Evacuate

Storm Breaches California River’s Levee, Thousands Evacuate
A man rides his bicycle through floodwaters in Watsonville, Calif., on March 11, 2023. Nic Coury/AP Photo
The Associated Press
Updated:
0:00

WATSONVILLE, Calif.—A Northern California agricultural community famous for its strawberry crop was forced to evacuate early March 11 after the Pajaro River’s levee was breached by flooding from a new atmospheric river that pummeled the state.

Across the Central Coast’s Monterey County, more than 8,500 people were under evacuation orders and warnings Saturday, including roughly 1,700 residents—many of them Latino farmworkers—from the unincorporated community of Pajaro.