MIDNIGHT UPDATE: The Pajaro River levee breached upstream from the community of Pajaro at approximately midnight Friday, according to the Monterey Health Department. National Guard high-water rescue vehicles are on the scene. Monterey Salinas Transit is transporting community members in the evacuation zone to shelters. The county says restoration work on the levee will resume Saturday morning at daybreak.
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Between evacuations and widespread power outages, it was deluge deja vu for Monterey County Friday as another atmospheric river battered California, continuing the state’s now months-long fight with torrential winter weather.
As this week’s system descended on the Central Coast, familiar unease over rapidly rising rivers across the region set in, prompting the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office to issue evacuation warnings – and eventually orders – for a slate of low-lying communities at risk of flooding.
By Friday afternoon, around 8,550 Monterey County residents were under an evacuation order or warning, according to county spokesperson Maia Carroll. Affected areas stretched from the Pajaro Community near the Santa Cruz County line to portions of Big Sur. Temporary evacuation points were set up at the Prunedale Library, Carmel Valley Library and King City Library for anyone facing displacement. The Monterey Convention and Visitors Bureau also released a list of local hotels offering evaluation rates for impacted residents.
Mapping out flooding concerns into Friday evening and over the weekend, Carroll said the county’s “most immediate concerns for rivers are the Pajaro, Arroyo Seco and Carmel rivers.” She added that the county is also keeping a close watch on the Salinas River.
As of Friday afternoon, the Carmel River at Robles Del Rio was still in the action stage and, according to the California Nevada River Forecast Center, threatened to surpass flood stage as Friday stretched on. The Arroyo Seco River was starting to decline heading into Friday afternoon, after reaching 11.13 feet just before 10 a.m.
Meanwhile, river forecasts expected the Pajaro River to crest within its action stage at nearly 30 feet Friday night. Carroll said staff from the county’s Water Resources Agency are and will continue to be stationed at the Pajaro River though Friday night into Saturday morning to “monitor muscle walls that were built in January during flood fighting efforts there.”
Almost exactly two months ago, as the state battled weeks of back-to-back atmospheric river storms, levees along the Pajaro river underwent minor repairs to shore up their integrity for storms going forward. Though hopeful repairs will hold through this week’s atmospheric river, Carroll said “crews will be out there all night monitoring because it’s going to be close.”
In January, the Pajaro River at Chittenden crested at 27.77 feet. Just after 1:15 p.m. Friday, the river was recorded at 26.27 feet and remained on the rise.
Also surging amid rainfall this week was the Big Sur River, which was forecasted to reach flood stage late Friday afternoon. Earlier in the morning, the National Weather Service had warned that flooding along the Big Sur River was “imminent or occurring.” An evacuation warning from the Sheriff’s Office for areas along the Big Sur River was set to go in effect Friday at 5 p.m.
Finally, beyond immediate concerns, a slowly rising Salinas River poses a risk of surpassing flood stage at Spreckels Saturday afternoon, according to the California Nevada River Forecast Center. Guidance shows river levels could continue to climb at Spreckels through Sunday morning, reaching as high as 24.6 feet. During the January storms – which incited unease that rising river levels would effectively make an island out of the Monterey Peninsula – the Salinas River at Spreckels crested at 24.6 feet.
The Sheriff’s Office issued an evacuation warning for low-lying areas of the Salinas River Friday afternoon.
After outages started cropping up around the region Thursday, more that 36,000 Pacific Gas and Electric Co. customers were still without power across the county as of publication Friday, according to PowerOutage.us.
Residents in Monterey, Carmel, Pacific Grove, Pebble Beach and Seaside faced the brunt of outages, which started just before 6 p.m. Thursday. The near blackout prompted a slew of school closures Friday, including district-wide closures at Pacific Grove Unified School District and Carmel Unified School District. Monterey Peninsula Unified School District also closed a handful of school sites due to power loss, including two elementary schools, Walter Colton Middle School and Monterey High. All other Monterey Peninsula Unified sites remained open.
PG&E hoped to restore power to most Monterey County residents by Friday night, company spokesperson Mayra Tostado said, though she noted difficulties with access from flooding or fallen trees may prolong some outages. She said the likelihood of prolonged outages was particularly high for Carmel and Pacific Grove.
To help with power restoration in Monterey County, Tostado said mutual aid is coming in from Southern California, adding to the already 70 crew members helping with local repairs.
“We have a lot of damage reported. ….The main cause is trees falling into our power lines due to strong winds that hit Monterey County for several hours,” Tostado said. “This weather event really wreaked havoc across the area.”
Winds as high as 45 miles per hour in the valleys and 60 miles per hour in higher elevations swept through Monterey County overnight Thursday, according to Brayden Murdock, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Monterey.
Along the Santa Lucia Mountains, peak gusts reached 70 miles per hour. Both the Salinas Airport and the Monterey Regional Airport saw highest winds reach nearly or just over 50 miles per hour.
Fortunately, for PG&E crews battling still falling trees at the least, winds started to die down Friday. Rain also petered out throughout the day. Murdock said that heading into Friday afternoon and evening, showers were becoming more scattered and less organized, falling into what he called a “post-frontal environment.”
From Thursday to Friday, Monterey County received its fair share of rainfall – piling more moisture onto already well-saturated soil. Per 24-hour rainfall totals, the Santa Lucia Mountains consistently collected anywhere from 4-6 inches, with some select peaks recording as much as 8-10 inches. Monterey saw just over an inch of rain, while Salinas clocked in slightly higher with 1.5 inches. Finally, the Big Sur coastline collected nearly 6 inches of rainfall.
Looking toward the weekend into early next week, Murdock said a weak system is forecasted to move through the area Saturday night into Sunday morning, followed by another atmospheric river storm Monday. Though emphasizing that neither of the storms coming up will pack quite as much of a punch as this week’s system, he urged continued vigilance of weather forecasts.
