Pajaro residents defy evacuation order to protect homes
PAJARO -- Authorities said the flooding in northern Monterey County has gotten worse. In some parts of Pajaro, water levels are rising.
The Monterey County Sheriff's Office said they have evacuated about 2,000 people from Pajaro since the Pajaro River levee broke early Saturday morning.
But some people are refusing to leave, fearing more than just the floodwaters.
"If the lights go out, the gas is gone, that's when we'll probably leave ... Yeah, everything is still on," said 15-year-old Carlos, who declined to provide his last name.
He and his family live on the second floor of an apartment complex. Their unit is dry but the complex is surrounded by water.
"My parents were concerned about me and my siblings and possibly the robbers would get into the houses. That's what they're mostly concerned about," Carlos said.
He said looters came to the community during the last evacuation in January.
Carlos said that, like many families in Pajaro, his parents are farmworkers with little money. They want to protect the little they have.
"We're OK, we have lots of food," Carlos said.
Another family that tried to stick it out decided there was nothing left to protect.
Fifteen-year-old Angel Escutia and his father Juan Escutia got on a Monterey County sheriff's rescue boat Sunday afternoon.
"When we left the house, (the water) was all the way up to our waist," Escutia said.
Escutia said the water destroyed everything in the house and three family cars parked outside.
"We just decided to stay so (looters) wouldn't take our stuff. We thought the water would go down this morning but, this morning, we started to notice it was going more up, it was getting deeper," Escutia said.
They salvaged a few bags of clothes and a few pairs of shoes. Even though they lost everything, they still have each other and their dog Lucky.
"I'm glad we got out safe," Escutia said.
Authorities were urging people to leave since water was still rising.
"Looting should not be an issue at this time. In fact, we've actually seen some of the neighbors that are really going out of their way to help people out that are not able to get back in. They're going in and securing people's residences, securing some belongings for people, medications, maybe family heirlooms and stuff like that," said Cal Fire captain Curtis Rhodes.
Authorities said almost every part of Pajaro is under water. Some streets are several feet deep. Homes, businesses and schools were submerged.
Monterey County officials said that, once they get a break from the storms, they plan to use rocks and other material to plug the levee breach about three miles east of Pajaro.
Not only is Pajaro under water, nearby Highway 1 was also flooded. Authorities said they don't know when they can reopen it.
"We can rebuild this, clean up the streets and be back to normal," Carlos said.
There have been no reported injuries as of early Sunday evening.
Authorities have set up four emergency shelters for evacuees.