Storm breaches California river’s levee, hundreds evacuate

WATSONVILLE, Calif. (AP) — Authorities ordered more than 1,500 people to evacuate from a Northern California agricultural community famous for its strawberry crop after the Pajaro River’s levee was breached by flooding from a new atmospheric river pummeling the state. First responders and the California National Guard rescued more than 50 people early Saturday from the unincorporated Monterey Bay community of Pajaro along California’s Central Coast. A local official called it “the worst case scenario.”

Crews began working to fix the levee around daybreak Saturday as residents slept in evacuation centers. The storm marked the state’s 10th atmospheric river of the winter.

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