storm feature 14 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY january 19-25, 2023 www.montereycountyweekly.com On Tuesday, Jan. 17, the first sunny day of the year, the Monterey County Board of Supervisors met for its first full meeting of 2023, the pomp and circumstance of the usual swearing-in ceremony for the newly electeds delayed by one week. They’d decided to hold off on the ceremonial part of their meeting and most of business while county officials were all-hands-on-deck addressing storm-related impacts. “When they talk about baptisms, my executive management team and myself definitely had a baptism by Mother Nature over the last two weeks,” Sheriff Tina Nieto said. Those two weeks included some 28,000 people under evacuation orders and warnings at any given point, in communities stretching across all parts of Monterey County—along the Salinas, Carmel, Pajaro, Big Sur and Arroyo Seco rivers, as well as a number of creeks that roared to life with 8.25 inches of rainfall since Christmas. The impacts to infrastructure and property are just being revealed. An initial analysis from Monterey County estimates at least $30 million in damage to public infrastructure, and a $50 million hit to agriculture. Those figures do not include damage to private homes, which property owners will be left to assess with flood insurance providers, if they have them—most homeowners’ insurance does not include flood coverage. For purposes of obtaining potential FEMA funds, county officials are asking property owners to report damage in a survey at arcg.is/1Pefe11. The photographs here capture some key moments during the week-plus of the most intense weather and greatest flood risk, before evacuation orders and warnings all lifted on Jan. 17. To read the Weekly’s complete storm coverage, visit mcweekly.com. Weathering the Storm As the sun comes out again, the damage toll of flooding, rain and wind just begins to come into focus. By Sara Rubin Above: Neighbors came together to help remove water and debris from a home on Paso Hondo in Carmel Valley after the Carmel River flooded several homes on Monday, Jan. 9. Evacuation orders were issued and downgraded to warnings twice in the area over the course of the week, and finally lifted on Tuesday, Jan. 17. Daniel Dreifuss Right: A slide south of Mill Creek on Highway 1. The highway remains closed on the South Coast of Big Sur due to damage and unstable ground. On Jan. 17, Caltrans moved the northern closure limit from Deetjen’s Inn 11 miles south to near Lime Creek. Below: An almost three-mile-long flooded farm field along River Road, south of Salinas, seen on Thursday, Jan. 12. CalTRans david Gubernick
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