Nearly two weeks have passed since then Broken embankment of the Pajaro riverflooded the unincorporated community of nearby Pajaro, sending some 3,000 residents into exile for months, suggested by county officials.
Despite Governor Gavin Newsom’s promises, federal aid It was close, but no such appeal was made.
At a press conference in Pajaro last week, Newsom recounted calling President Biden shortly after the crisis.
“We are confident he will be there for us,” Newsom told the crowd.
However, unless authorities can expand the scope of the disaster, it could probably include counties such as Tulea and Kings that experienced it. widespread flooding — Such a request by Newsom is increasingly unlikely, according to a spokesman for the governor’s Emergency Services Agency.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency “has fairly complex criteria for what is a disaster and what is a criterion,” said Brian Ferguson, director of crisis communications for the Emergency Services Agency. said.
He said that so far, Pajaro does not qualify.
“Broadly speaking, this usually means that 1,200 homes must have been severely damaged or destroyed,” he said.
George Nunez, director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said only 903 buildings were damaged in Pajaro, and only six of them were so bad they could not be entered.
it’s a blow to the community It has long been marginalized and neglected.
On Thursday afternoon, residents were allowed into town for the first time since the floods to check their homes and belongings.
early this month, federal officials told The Times Government engineers have known for years that the levees that protect the town could collapse. The official admitted that the improvement project never materialized. Mostly farm workers live there.
Residents and business owners are increasingly frustrated with the government’s response.
17-year-old Anari Cortes shares a hotel room with his parents, three brothers and two sisters who were unable to enter the shelter and is frustrated by the lack of support his family receives. .
She said she told them to wait because county officials are working to bring FEMA to the scene.
“They keep saying, ‘Wait, wait,’ but what are we waiting for?” she said in a telephone interview.
The teenager said her family had applied for financial assistance through a nonprofit and that the county provided some funding, but so far they haven’t gotten any response.
She said most residents know the county is trying to help, but those efforts don’t seem to be well implemented. Let’s.
“Do I have to walk to the park to go to the restroom?” She added that the county should have distributed restrooms throughout the community.
“I don’t think that’s right,” said the girl when she learned that Pajaro had not yet met the criteria for FEMA assistance.
“Just because they haven’t reached the level of destruction they want doesn’t mean they can’t get help. Everyone is affected by the disaster.”
She and others noted the swift response their wealthy neighbors received after the January storm.
Nine days after a storm hit the Santa Cruz coastline, iconic restaurants and bars along the coast collapsed. Capitola waterfront And collapsed the cliffs below West Cliff Drive in Santa Cruz — Biden declared the area a catastrophe.
“With tens of millions of dollars in damages here, it’s easy to see why the community couldn’t qualify,” said Glenn Church, supervisor of Monterey County, which has jurisdiction over the Pajaro area. No,’ he said.
FEMA’s Catastrophe Declarations provide direct assistance to individuals and businesses that have suffered losses as a result of storms and floods. To obtain such a declaration, the Governor must make a direct request to the President.
Such requests are typically supported with preliminary assessments of damage estimates and the need for federal assistance.
In the case of January’s storms, the damage was so extensive that it was easy to “add the necessary totals quickly,” Ferguson said.
However, in the case of Pajaro, the damage was localized, so it took longer.
“We can count the weeks and we may or may not get there in the end,” he said, adding that the governor’s office, through FEMA or other federal and state programs, is seeking funding. He added that he is doing everything he can to be “creative” to ensure that
He said the good thing about FEMA money is that it provides direct financial support to individuals and businesses. Most other programs consist of loans.
The concern with sending a request that does not meet FEMA’s disaster criteria is that while the federal government conducts its deliberations, which can take weeks or months, no other means of financial assistance will be available. He said.
“Small Business Administration financing isn’t as good as direct federal assistance, but any available financing is better than none available,” Ferguson said.
Earlier this month, Newsom launched a more limited Presidential emergency declarationhas authorized federal assistance to support storm response and recovery efforts.
Meanwhile, state and local legislators are pleading with governors to expedite large-scale disaster relief assessments and requests.
“We need to get FEMA on the scene here as soon as possible,” said Monterey County Commission Supervisor Luis Alejo. “Pajaro residents have been asking, ‘Where can FEMA personnel help us?’ it won’t.”
On March 20, a group of seven state legislators, including Senators John Laird and Rep. We urge them to act swiftly to address immediate needs.” “We call for a major presidential disaster declaration so that the latest series of storms will begin on his February 24, 2023.”
For now, evacuees rely heavily on philanthropic funds and donations to provide assistance, said Ray Cancino, CEO of Aptos-based Community Bridges Coordinating Aid for Displaced People in Pajaro. is supporting
Minutes after Monterey County lifted evacuation orders in Pajaro, allowing residents to return to their communities to assess the damage to their homes, Sister Rosa Dolores, founder of the Casa de la Cultural Center, got in her car. , started driving to Pajaro.
“I’m going to check out the center,” she said on the phone.
Dolores is baffled by the glacial pace at which aid is flowing to Pajaro’s residents and surrounding farming communities.
She recalled how FEMA responded to the 1995 flood by building temporary trailers for residents.
“They got there pretty quickly and people stayed there for a year or so,” she recalled. “It became like a little neighborhood.”
But now she wonders why the federal response wasn’t done this time. “If FEMA wants to help us, they need to be in Pajaro now,” she said. .
Many of the evacuees Dolores works with are farm workers who cannot work because their fields are flooded and their crops are damaged.
Companies like Driscoll’s berries fund organizations like Community Bridges.
Ferguson said the fact that Pajaro has a history of being marginalized may help with the disaster call.
“These communities are in some ways more resilient because they haven’t received the support they need from the government for a long time and tend to recover more quickly,” he said. Because by nature, I had to live on my own.”
This story originally appeared los angeles times.
