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Your Call

LAT: Officials knew Pajaro River levee could fail but took no action

LiPo Ching
/
SF Chronicle

On this edition of Your Call, we discuss California’s ongoing storm, which is wreaking havoc across many parts of the state. 

On Saturday, a levee broke along the Pajaro River in Monterey County forcing 1,700 people to flee their homes. An aerial view shows the entire area submerged in flood waters.

More than half of Pajaro's residents are primarily low-income Spanish speaking. Many are farmworkers.

For decades, officials knew that the levee was vulnerable, but never prioritized repairs, in part, because they believed it did not make financial sense to protect the low-income area, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Guest:

Susanne Rust, investigative reporter for the Los Angeles Times

Web Resources:

Los Angeles Times: Age, drought, rodents and neglect weaken California levees, heightening flood danger

Los Angeles Times: Before disastrous flood, officials knew Pajaro River levee could fail but took no action

Los Angeles Times: Scenes of devastation along the Pajaro River: ‘The water is still coming in. It’s rising’

The Mercury News: ‘Complete panic’: Pajaro residents seek shelter as the next atmospheric river is on its way

Rose Aguilar has been the host of Your Call since 2006. She became a regular media roundtable guest in 2001. In 2019, the San Francisco Press Club named Your Call the best public affairs program. In 2017, The Nation named it the most valuable local radio show.
Bee Soll is a producer with Your Call at KALW, and a producer, writer, and editor at KCBS Radio in San Francisco. She is a former reporter for Crosscurrents and contributor at KPFA Radio.