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"bio": "Erin Baldassari covers housing for KQED. She's a former print journalist and most recently worked as the transportation reporter for the \u003cem>Mercury News\u003c/em> and \u003cem>East Bay Times. \u003c/em>There, she focused on how the Bay Area’s housing shortage has changed the way people move around the region. She also served on the \u003cem>East Bay Times\u003c/em>’ 2017 Pulitzer Prize-winning team for coverage of the Ghost Ship Fire in Oakland. Prior to that, Erin worked as a breaking news and general assignment reporter for a variety of outlets in the Bay Area and the greater Boston area. A Tufts University alumna, Erin grew up in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains and in Sonoma County. She is a life-long KQED listener.",
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"slug": "step-into-the-past-at-californias-newest-state-park",
"title": "Step Into the Past at California's Newest State Park",
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"content": "\u003cp>At the crack of dawn in California’s Central Valley, birds sing their morning songs and critters chirp unabashedly. In a shady grove next to a river, an owl swoops down from the spindling branches of an oak tree that has stood its ground for centuries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few feet above the tree’s base, its massive trunk is lined with a white ring, indicating how high the San Joaquin River rose during a flood last year. Dos Rios is \u003cem>supposed\u003c/em> to flood — it’s a floodplain, recently transformed into California’s newest state park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The park opened this summer, emerging among the never-ending rows of agriculture the valley is known for. It’s a lush 2.5 square miles now bursting with hundreds of thousands of native trees, bushes and animals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dos Rios, named for the Tuolumne and San Joaquin rivers that meet at the edge of the park, is the first new California state park in more than a decade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it isn’t like most state parks. In addition to bringing much-needed green space to an underserved area, its unusual design uses nature-based climate solutions that reinvigorate native wildlife.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By restoring the natural floodplain, the park will also help mitigate flooding that threatens residents in the area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11997401\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1742px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.13.15%E2%80%AFAM.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11997401\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.13.15%E2%80%AFAM.png\" alt=\"Sunflowers in an oak grove.\" width=\"1742\" height=\"1302\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.13.15 AM.png 1742w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.13.15 AM-800x598.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.13.15 AM-1020x762.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.13.15 AM-160x120.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.13.15 AM-1536x1148.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1742px) 100vw, 1742px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sunflowers flourish near a Dos Rios oak grove. \u003ccite>(Geloy Concepcion/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Transforming farm fields back to a floodplain\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Dos Rios is like a time machine. Just 15 years ago, this plot of land looked much like its surroundings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These floodplains were once laser-leveled fields that grew alfalfa, or a rotation of corn and winter wheat, which would be harvested and moved over to where the dairies are to feed the cows,” conservationist Julie Rentner says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, the land looks more like it did hundreds of years ago before farms and towns cropped up before the Central Valley became an agricultural hub of America.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11997402\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1290px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.13.33%E2%80%AFAM.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11997402\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.13.33%E2%80%AFAM.png\" alt='A woman stands outside wearing a vest that says \"River Partners.\"' width=\"1290\" height=\"1558\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.13.33 AM.png 1290w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.13.33 AM-800x966.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.13.33 AM-1020x1232.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.13.33 AM-160x193.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.13.33 AM-1272x1536.png 1272w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1290px) 100vw, 1290px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Julie Rentner has had a hand in the formation of Dos Rios since its conception. She’s thrilled to see the park finally open to the public. \u003ccite>(Geloy Concepcion/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Rentner is president of the nonprofit organization River Partners, which began the process of purchasing the plot from a farming family back in 2008. Since then, her team has been transforming the land to return it to some semblance of the floodplain it naturally was.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Most of the critters here, the willows, the cottonwoods, the mugwort and the gum plants are actually stimulated by occasional flooding,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the summer months, the San Joaquin and Tuolumne rivers flow lazily around the edges of this park, but in the spring and early summer, when snow melts in the Sierras, the rivers take on a forceful character, rampaging through this land, swelling above their banks and flooding this area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, the rivers rose about 20 feet higher than they are now. At the time, River Partners was giving boat tours through the area as floodwaters brought back animals like river otters, beavers and waterfowl.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11997391\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/dosrios-gconcepcion-23-scaled.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11997391\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/dosrios-gconcepcion-23-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"A view from an oak grove.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/dosrios-gconcepcion-23-scaled.jpeg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/dosrios-gconcepcion-23-800x1067.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/dosrios-gconcepcion-23-1020x1360.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/dosrios-gconcepcion-23-160x213.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/dosrios-gconcepcion-23-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/dosrios-gconcepcion-23-1536x2048.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A view from the Oak Tree Grove, photographed on June 28, 2024, in Dos Rios, located in Modesto. \u003ccite>(Geloy Concepcion/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Working with nature to tame floodwater risk\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>While flooding is now welcome at Dos Rios, for Central Valley farmers and residents, it has long been a demon. It destroys crops and homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.spk.usace.army.mil/Portals/12/documents/civil_works/lower_sj_river/final_eis-eir/01_San%20Joaquin%20River%20Basin%20Lower%20San%20Joaquin%20River_CA%20FINAL%20IIFR_EIS_EIR.pdf?ver=2018-02-01-184425-453\">2018 report from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers\u003c/a> and its state partners says that Stockton, a large metropolitan city about 30 miles north of Dos Rios, faced an “unacceptably high risk of flooding from levee failure.” Dos Rios is meant to be an escape valve before torrents of water threaten levees in nearby places like Stockton.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This place is reducing flood risk for downstream communities by absorbing floodwaters as they pour out of the Sierra Nevadas,” Rentner says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reengineering Dos Rios involved cutting holes into berms and levees and allowing the rivers to flood instead of attempting to constrain them. The floodwaters then soak into the ground, sparing nearby communities and recharging groundwater. Rentner says these solutions are designed to work \u003cem>with\u003c/em> nature instead of against it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11997405\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1288px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.13.58%E2%80%AFAM.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11997405\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.13.58%E2%80%AFAM.png\" alt=\"A woman wearing glasses looks out a window.\" width=\"1288\" height=\"1582\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.13.58 AM.png 1288w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.13.58 AM-800x983.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.13.58 AM-1020x1253.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.13.58 AM-160x197.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.13.58 AM-1251x1536.png 1251w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1288px) 100vw, 1288px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lilia Lomeli-Gil has lived in Grayson for most of her life. She runs the community center there but wants more recreational spaces for the people of Grayson. \u003ccite>(Geloy Concepcion/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Another community that could benefit from Dos Rios is Grayson, a small, unincorporated area just a few miles west of the park. Lilia Lomeli-Gil, a community leader there, remembers suffering from the devastating floods of 1997. At the time, she lived in Modesto, just east of Dos Rios.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It still brings tears to my eyes,” she says, recalling her house swamped with 3 to 4 feet of water. “We had to start over, we were homeless.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eventually, Lomeli-Gil and her husband were able to relocate back to Grayson, where she had spent most of her life. Now she says she is relieved that Dos Rios is in Grayson’s backyard — not only because of flood-risk mitigation but also because it’s a new place to recreate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A place to go barbecue, join other family members,” and it’s a place to appreciate nature for local community members, she says. “I think that emotionally, it’s going to be very good for their mental health.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Grayson is a tiny, 4-by-5-block farming community. Most of the residents are agricultural workers. The community center Lomeli-Gil runs is the only gathering place in town for residents, other than the gas station market next door.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need more; we need a variety, not just one place,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11997406\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1738px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.07%E2%80%AFAM.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11997406\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.07%E2%80%AFAM.png\" alt='Two people look at sign and image of a river that says \"Dos Rios.\"' width=\"1738\" height=\"1150\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.07 AM.png 1738w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.07 AM-800x529.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.07 AM-1020x675.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.07 AM-160x106.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.07 AM-1536x1016.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1738px) 100vw, 1738px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Grayson muralist Jose Muñóz hand-painted this sign welcoming visitors to Dos Rios. \u003ccite>(Geloy Concepcion/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>A new place to enjoy nature\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At 8:30 on a recent Friday morning, Lomeli-Gil had gathered a group of parents, teenagers and young children from Grayson around picnic benches on the edge of an old riverbank at Dos Rios. Like most of the surrounding community, everyone in the group speaks Spanish, so their tour guides, Eduardo Gonzalez and Julian Morin, led the group through a portion of the park in English and Spanish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We want to continue to increase accessibility to parks; they’re out here for everybody,” Morin says. “Language barriers shouldn’t be why people can’t get out and enjoy state parks and experience everything they have to offer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gonzalez leads the group on a walking path that, in a way, divides the past and future of this park: An old almond orchard is on one side, and a lush landscape of bushes, trees, birds and animals on the other.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11997407\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1734px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.18%E2%80%AFAM.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11997407\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.18%E2%80%AFAM.png\" alt=\"Several people walk outside near a river.\" width=\"1734\" height=\"1158\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.18 AM.png 1734w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.18 AM-800x534.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.18 AM-1020x681.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.18 AM-160x107.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.18 AM-1536x1026.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1734px) 100vw, 1734px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Eduardo Gonzalez and Julian Morin lead Grayson community members on a tour of Dos Rios in late June. \u003ccite>(Geloy Concepcion/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In Spanish, Gonzalez says, “Twelve years ago, this was \u003cem>all \u003c/em>pure orchard, and [River Partners] removed them.” Pointing to the other side of the path, where birds are chirping loudly, he says, “And they began to plant more native plants that were here before agriculture.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He tells the group that, like the rest of the park, that almond orchard will eventually become a campground or a place for families to gather. The park will also offer family events like group campfires and stargazing nights. When school is in session, the park plans to organize educational visits for students.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Opening up the land to Indigenous people as a place to gather plants\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The Dos Rios team has also consulted with Indigenous tribes about how this new park can benefit their communities. Austin Stevenot, the San Joaquin field manager for River Partners, first came across the organization a few years ago when they invited his extended family to visit the park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stevenot and his family are members of the Northern Sierra Miwok tribe. Stevenot consulted his mother and aunts, founding members of the California Indian Basketweavers’ Association. They put together planting palettes of native plants — like a mood board for plants — that would be beneficial to the habitat but also for Indigenous medicinal and cultural practices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All the things we were like, ‘It would be great to gather this here!’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11997408\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1282px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.30%E2%80%AFAM.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11997408\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.30%E2%80%AFAM.png\" alt=\"A headshot of a man wearing a dark colored hat and shirt.\" width=\"1282\" height=\"1608\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.30 AM.png 1282w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.30 AM-800x1003.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.30 AM-1020x1279.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.30 AM-160x201.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.30 AM-1225x1536.png 1225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1282px) 100vw, 1282px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Austin Stevenot helped design the Native Use Garden at Dos Rios. He hopes the entire park will one day be a place where tribal members can go to gather plants for cultural practices. \u003ccite>(Geloy Concepcion/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Stevenot brought members of local tribes to plant native shrubs like Valley Sedge, which is used for basket weaving or mugwort, used as a natural bug repellent. Now, a 3-acre Native Use Garden is blooming at Dos Rios.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A century ago, he says, his people were forcibly removed from their ancestral village, about 60 miles from here. So it means a lot to him to have a piece of this land his family and other Indigenous people can use as their own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It looks like a big weed patch right now. But there’s a lot here. There’s a lot of meaning here,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though removing plants from public lands is typically illegal, \u003ca href=\"https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/36/2.6\">a 2016 rule\u003c/a> permits parks to enter into plant-gathering agreements with Native American tribes. Stevenot says tribal members can reach out to the park to inquire about accessing the Native Use Garden now. Still, their goal is for the park to eventually implement a formal permitting process for tribal members to gather anywhere in Dos Rios.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need thousands more acres just like this,” he says. “Not just not for just water, not for habitat, but for the people of the land, for the people that were here long before anybody else.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11997409\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1736px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.37%E2%80%AFAM.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11997409\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.37%E2%80%AFAM.png\" alt=\"Plants in a field.\" width=\"1736\" height=\"1302\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.37 AM.png 1736w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.37 AM-800x600.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.37 AM-1020x765.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.37 AM-160x120.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.37 AM-1536x1152.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1736px) 100vw, 1736px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Native Use Garden is a place where tribal members can gather native plants for ceremonial use and other cultural practices with permission from Dos Rios staff. \u003ccite>(Geloy Concepcion/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>’10 more Dos Rioses’ in the next 10 years\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Dos Rios holds great promise for the Central Valley — it provides new recreational space, restores native habitat, protects against flood damage and recharges dwindling groundwater in the Central Valley. But it’s only about 2 1/2 square miles in a vast region dominated by agricultural farms, and even restoring that much land has been no easy task.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Here in the Central Valley, we have a history of fighting over water, really being at odds with the environmental movement,” Julie Rentner says. But she adds that over the years, the community surrounding Dos Rios has shown great excitement about its multiple benefits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11997411\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1736px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.48%E2%80%AFAM.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11997411\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.48%E2%80%AFAM.png\" alt=\"A man holds a plant outside.\" width=\"1736\" height=\"1292\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.48 AM.png 1736w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.48 AM-800x595.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.48 AM-1020x759.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.48 AM-160x119.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.48 AM-1536x1143.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1736px) 100vw, 1736px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Stevenot rubs the leaves of a mugwort plant, which he explains has ceremonial uses and also works as a mosquito repellant. \u003ccite>(Geloy Concepcion/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“You talk to anybody in this neighborhood, and you realize, oh my gosh, we all want the same things,” she says. “We want clean, healthy communities to live in. We want beautiful places to be able to take our kids and grandkids.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And she says California’s state government is on board with more projects like Dos Rios, as evidenced by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s 2020 executive order, which has been dubbed the “\u003ca href=\"https://www.californianature.ca.gov/\">30 x 30\u003c/a>” initiative because it aims to conserve 30% of California’s lands and coastal waters by the year 2030. “And that encouraged us to think, how do you scale all of this?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rentner is optimistic. “We’ve done the planning, we’ve done the mapping,” she says, “We’re thinking about doing 10 more Dos Rioses just in the next decade. Maybe more.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11997412\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1286px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.15.08%E2%80%AFAM.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11997412\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.15.08%E2%80%AFAM.png\" alt=\"An oak tree.\" width=\"1286\" height=\"1614\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.15.08 AM.png 1286w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.15.08 AM-800x1004.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.15.08 AM-1020x1280.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.15.08 AM-160x201.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.15.08 AM-1224x1536.png 1224w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1286px) 100vw, 1286px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A centuries-old oak tree bears white rings that indicate how high floodwaters rose last spring. \u003ccite>(Geloy Concepcion/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "California's newest state park, Dos Rios (Central Valley), just opened this summer — and a visit is like stepping into a time machine as its creators reimagine what a state park can be.",
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"title": "Step Into the Past at California's Newest State Park | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>At the crack of dawn in California’s Central Valley, birds sing their morning songs and critters chirp unabashedly. In a shady grove next to a river, an owl swoops down from the spindling branches of an oak tree that has stood its ground for centuries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few feet above the tree’s base, its massive trunk is lined with a white ring, indicating how high the San Joaquin River rose during a flood last year. Dos Rios is \u003cem>supposed\u003c/em> to flood — it’s a floodplain, recently transformed into California’s newest state park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The park opened this summer, emerging among the never-ending rows of agriculture the valley is known for. It’s a lush 2.5 square miles now bursting with hundreds of thousands of native trees, bushes and animals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dos Rios, named for the Tuolumne and San Joaquin rivers that meet at the edge of the park, is the first new California state park in more than a decade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it isn’t like most state parks. In addition to bringing much-needed green space to an underserved area, its unusual design uses nature-based climate solutions that reinvigorate native wildlife.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By restoring the natural floodplain, the park will also help mitigate flooding that threatens residents in the area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11997401\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1742px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.13.15%E2%80%AFAM.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11997401\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.13.15%E2%80%AFAM.png\" alt=\"Sunflowers in an oak grove.\" width=\"1742\" height=\"1302\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.13.15 AM.png 1742w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.13.15 AM-800x598.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.13.15 AM-1020x762.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.13.15 AM-160x120.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.13.15 AM-1536x1148.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1742px) 100vw, 1742px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sunflowers flourish near a Dos Rios oak grove. \u003ccite>(Geloy Concepcion/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Transforming farm fields back to a floodplain\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Dos Rios is like a time machine. Just 15 years ago, this plot of land looked much like its surroundings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These floodplains were once laser-leveled fields that grew alfalfa, or a rotation of corn and winter wheat, which would be harvested and moved over to where the dairies are to feed the cows,” conservationist Julie Rentner says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, the land looks more like it did hundreds of years ago before farms and towns cropped up before the Central Valley became an agricultural hub of America.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11997402\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1290px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.13.33%E2%80%AFAM.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11997402\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.13.33%E2%80%AFAM.png\" alt='A woman stands outside wearing a vest that says \"River Partners.\"' width=\"1290\" height=\"1558\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.13.33 AM.png 1290w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.13.33 AM-800x966.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.13.33 AM-1020x1232.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.13.33 AM-160x193.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.13.33 AM-1272x1536.png 1272w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1290px) 100vw, 1290px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Julie Rentner has had a hand in the formation of Dos Rios since its conception. She’s thrilled to see the park finally open to the public. \u003ccite>(Geloy Concepcion/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Rentner is president of the nonprofit organization River Partners, which began the process of purchasing the plot from a farming family back in 2008. Since then, her team has been transforming the land to return it to some semblance of the floodplain it naturally was.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Most of the critters here, the willows, the cottonwoods, the mugwort and the gum plants are actually stimulated by occasional flooding,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the summer months, the San Joaquin and Tuolumne rivers flow lazily around the edges of this park, but in the spring and early summer, when snow melts in the Sierras, the rivers take on a forceful character, rampaging through this land, swelling above their banks and flooding this area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, the rivers rose about 20 feet higher than they are now. At the time, River Partners was giving boat tours through the area as floodwaters brought back animals like river otters, beavers and waterfowl.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11997391\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/dosrios-gconcepcion-23-scaled.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11997391\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/dosrios-gconcepcion-23-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"A view from an oak grove.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/dosrios-gconcepcion-23-scaled.jpeg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/dosrios-gconcepcion-23-800x1067.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/dosrios-gconcepcion-23-1020x1360.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/dosrios-gconcepcion-23-160x213.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/dosrios-gconcepcion-23-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/dosrios-gconcepcion-23-1536x2048.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A view from the Oak Tree Grove, photographed on June 28, 2024, in Dos Rios, located in Modesto. \u003ccite>(Geloy Concepcion/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Working with nature to tame floodwater risk\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>While flooding is now welcome at Dos Rios, for Central Valley farmers and residents, it has long been a demon. It destroys crops and homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.spk.usace.army.mil/Portals/12/documents/civil_works/lower_sj_river/final_eis-eir/01_San%20Joaquin%20River%20Basin%20Lower%20San%20Joaquin%20River_CA%20FINAL%20IIFR_EIS_EIR.pdf?ver=2018-02-01-184425-453\">2018 report from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers\u003c/a> and its state partners says that Stockton, a large metropolitan city about 30 miles north of Dos Rios, faced an “unacceptably high risk of flooding from levee failure.” Dos Rios is meant to be an escape valve before torrents of water threaten levees in nearby places like Stockton.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This place is reducing flood risk for downstream communities by absorbing floodwaters as they pour out of the Sierra Nevadas,” Rentner says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reengineering Dos Rios involved cutting holes into berms and levees and allowing the rivers to flood instead of attempting to constrain them. The floodwaters then soak into the ground, sparing nearby communities and recharging groundwater. Rentner says these solutions are designed to work \u003cem>with\u003c/em> nature instead of against it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11997405\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1288px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.13.58%E2%80%AFAM.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11997405\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.13.58%E2%80%AFAM.png\" alt=\"A woman wearing glasses looks out a window.\" width=\"1288\" height=\"1582\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.13.58 AM.png 1288w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.13.58 AM-800x983.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.13.58 AM-1020x1253.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.13.58 AM-160x197.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.13.58 AM-1251x1536.png 1251w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1288px) 100vw, 1288px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lilia Lomeli-Gil has lived in Grayson for most of her life. She runs the community center there but wants more recreational spaces for the people of Grayson. \u003ccite>(Geloy Concepcion/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Another community that could benefit from Dos Rios is Grayson, a small, unincorporated area just a few miles west of the park. Lilia Lomeli-Gil, a community leader there, remembers suffering from the devastating floods of 1997. At the time, she lived in Modesto, just east of Dos Rios.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It still brings tears to my eyes,” she says, recalling her house swamped with 3 to 4 feet of water. “We had to start over, we were homeless.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eventually, Lomeli-Gil and her husband were able to relocate back to Grayson, where she had spent most of her life. Now she says she is relieved that Dos Rios is in Grayson’s backyard — not only because of flood-risk mitigation but also because it’s a new place to recreate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A place to go barbecue, join other family members,” and it’s a place to appreciate nature for local community members, she says. “I think that emotionally, it’s going to be very good for their mental health.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Grayson is a tiny, 4-by-5-block farming community. Most of the residents are agricultural workers. The community center Lomeli-Gil runs is the only gathering place in town for residents, other than the gas station market next door.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need more; we need a variety, not just one place,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11997406\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1738px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.07%E2%80%AFAM.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11997406\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.07%E2%80%AFAM.png\" alt='Two people look at sign and image of a river that says \"Dos Rios.\"' width=\"1738\" height=\"1150\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.07 AM.png 1738w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.07 AM-800x529.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.07 AM-1020x675.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.07 AM-160x106.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.07 AM-1536x1016.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1738px) 100vw, 1738px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Grayson muralist Jose Muñóz hand-painted this sign welcoming visitors to Dos Rios. \u003ccite>(Geloy Concepcion/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>A new place to enjoy nature\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At 8:30 on a recent Friday morning, Lomeli-Gil had gathered a group of parents, teenagers and young children from Grayson around picnic benches on the edge of an old riverbank at Dos Rios. Like most of the surrounding community, everyone in the group speaks Spanish, so their tour guides, Eduardo Gonzalez and Julian Morin, led the group through a portion of the park in English and Spanish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We want to continue to increase accessibility to parks; they’re out here for everybody,” Morin says. “Language barriers shouldn’t be why people can’t get out and enjoy state parks and experience everything they have to offer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gonzalez leads the group on a walking path that, in a way, divides the past and future of this park: An old almond orchard is on one side, and a lush landscape of bushes, trees, birds and animals on the other.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11997407\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1734px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.18%E2%80%AFAM.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11997407\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.18%E2%80%AFAM.png\" alt=\"Several people walk outside near a river.\" width=\"1734\" height=\"1158\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.18 AM.png 1734w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.18 AM-800x534.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.18 AM-1020x681.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.18 AM-160x107.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.18 AM-1536x1026.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1734px) 100vw, 1734px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Eduardo Gonzalez and Julian Morin lead Grayson community members on a tour of Dos Rios in late June. \u003ccite>(Geloy Concepcion/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In Spanish, Gonzalez says, “Twelve years ago, this was \u003cem>all \u003c/em>pure orchard, and [River Partners] removed them.” Pointing to the other side of the path, where birds are chirping loudly, he says, “And they began to plant more native plants that were here before agriculture.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He tells the group that, like the rest of the park, that almond orchard will eventually become a campground or a place for families to gather. The park will also offer family events like group campfires and stargazing nights. When school is in session, the park plans to organize educational visits for students.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Opening up the land to Indigenous people as a place to gather plants\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The Dos Rios team has also consulted with Indigenous tribes about how this new park can benefit their communities. Austin Stevenot, the San Joaquin field manager for River Partners, first came across the organization a few years ago when they invited his extended family to visit the park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stevenot and his family are members of the Northern Sierra Miwok tribe. Stevenot consulted his mother and aunts, founding members of the California Indian Basketweavers’ Association. They put together planting palettes of native plants — like a mood board for plants — that would be beneficial to the habitat but also for Indigenous medicinal and cultural practices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All the things we were like, ‘It would be great to gather this here!’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11997408\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1282px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.30%E2%80%AFAM.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11997408\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.30%E2%80%AFAM.png\" alt=\"A headshot of a man wearing a dark colored hat and shirt.\" width=\"1282\" height=\"1608\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.30 AM.png 1282w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.30 AM-800x1003.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.30 AM-1020x1279.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.30 AM-160x201.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.30 AM-1225x1536.png 1225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1282px) 100vw, 1282px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Austin Stevenot helped design the Native Use Garden at Dos Rios. He hopes the entire park will one day be a place where tribal members can go to gather plants for cultural practices. \u003ccite>(Geloy Concepcion/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Stevenot brought members of local tribes to plant native shrubs like Valley Sedge, which is used for basket weaving or mugwort, used as a natural bug repellent. Now, a 3-acre Native Use Garden is blooming at Dos Rios.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A century ago, he says, his people were forcibly removed from their ancestral village, about 60 miles from here. So it means a lot to him to have a piece of this land his family and other Indigenous people can use as their own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It looks like a big weed patch right now. But there’s a lot here. There’s a lot of meaning here,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though removing plants from public lands is typically illegal, \u003ca href=\"https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/36/2.6\">a 2016 rule\u003c/a> permits parks to enter into plant-gathering agreements with Native American tribes. Stevenot says tribal members can reach out to the park to inquire about accessing the Native Use Garden now. Still, their goal is for the park to eventually implement a formal permitting process for tribal members to gather anywhere in Dos Rios.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need thousands more acres just like this,” he says. “Not just not for just water, not for habitat, but for the people of the land, for the people that were here long before anybody else.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11997409\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1736px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.37%E2%80%AFAM.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11997409\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.37%E2%80%AFAM.png\" alt=\"Plants in a field.\" width=\"1736\" height=\"1302\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.37 AM.png 1736w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.37 AM-800x600.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.37 AM-1020x765.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.37 AM-160x120.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.37 AM-1536x1152.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1736px) 100vw, 1736px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Native Use Garden is a place where tribal members can gather native plants for ceremonial use and other cultural practices with permission from Dos Rios staff. \u003ccite>(Geloy Concepcion/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>’10 more Dos Rioses’ in the next 10 years\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Dos Rios holds great promise for the Central Valley — it provides new recreational space, restores native habitat, protects against flood damage and recharges dwindling groundwater in the Central Valley. But it’s only about 2 1/2 square miles in a vast region dominated by agricultural farms, and even restoring that much land has been no easy task.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Here in the Central Valley, we have a history of fighting over water, really being at odds with the environmental movement,” Julie Rentner says. But she adds that over the years, the community surrounding Dos Rios has shown great excitement about its multiple benefits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11997411\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1736px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.48%E2%80%AFAM.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11997411\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.48%E2%80%AFAM.png\" alt=\"A man holds a plant outside.\" width=\"1736\" height=\"1292\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.48 AM.png 1736w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.48 AM-800x595.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.48 AM-1020x759.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.48 AM-160x119.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.14.48 AM-1536x1143.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1736px) 100vw, 1736px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Stevenot rubs the leaves of a mugwort plant, which he explains has ceremonial uses and also works as a mosquito repellant. \u003ccite>(Geloy Concepcion/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“You talk to anybody in this neighborhood, and you realize, oh my gosh, we all want the same things,” she says. “We want clean, healthy communities to live in. We want beautiful places to be able to take our kids and grandkids.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And she says California’s state government is on board with more projects like Dos Rios, as evidenced by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s 2020 executive order, which has been dubbed the “\u003ca href=\"https://www.californianature.ca.gov/\">30 x 30\u003c/a>” initiative because it aims to conserve 30% of California’s lands and coastal waters by the year 2030. “And that encouraged us to think, how do you scale all of this?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rentner is optimistic. “We’ve done the planning, we’ve done the mapping,” she says, “We’re thinking about doing 10 more Dos Rioses just in the next decade. Maybe more.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11997412\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1286px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.15.08%E2%80%AFAM.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11997412\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.15.08%E2%80%AFAM.png\" alt=\"An oak tree.\" width=\"1286\" height=\"1614\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.15.08 AM.png 1286w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.15.08 AM-800x1004.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.15.08 AM-1020x1280.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.15.08 AM-160x201.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-25-at-11.15.08 AM-1224x1536.png 1224w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1286px) 100vw, 1286px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A centuries-old oak tree bears white rings that indicate how high floodwaters rose last spring. \u003ccite>(Geloy Concepcion/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "how-central-valley-farmworker-communities-are-tackling-climate-change",
"title": "How Central Valley Farmworker Communities Are Tackling Climate Change",
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"headTitle": "How Central Valley Farmworker Communities Are Tackling Climate Change | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>A rural community on the banks of the San Joaquin River was spared from flooding during last winter’s powerful storms after hundreds of acres of former farmland were \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11965257/california-looks-to-restore-floodplains-to-protect-communities-from-impacts-of-climate-change\">restored to their natural state as floodplains\u003c/a>, giving the rising water a place to go.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An immigrant family in the Central Valley city of Tulare got relief from 100-degree heat and sky-high energy bills with insulation and energy retrofits installed under a state program to weatherize the homes of low-income farmworkers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A small town mayor in a region with some of the most polluted air in the nation launched a free rideshare program with a fleet of electric vehicles — the first step in his goal of creating hundreds of green jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These are a few of the climate resilience strategies emerging in hard-hit agricultural communities in California’s Central Valley, supported by state and federal funds that could enable local initiatives to scale up. But the very places that need help the most may have the hardest time accessing the funding available, \u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/aYv2COYZQzi2BvYEskPu2V?domain=next10.org\">research shows\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Residents of San Joaquin Valley face a barrage of challenges as the planet warms and weather patterns shift, often with catastrophic results. Land development has been engineered over decades to maximize agricultural productivity, with little attention to environmental resilience. And low-income immigrant workers, who are the backbone of this economy, are on the front lines, living in communities that lack resources and critical infrastructure to cope.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Summer temperatures throughout the valley routinely spike into triple digits, making outdoor work dangerous and shoddily built homes stifling. Wildfires repeatedly blanket the region with smoke, exacerbating the air pollution that leads to the state’s worst rates of asthma.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11966814\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11966814\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A dry field with an irrigation channel alongside it.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-02-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-02-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-02-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-02-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-02-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-02-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An irrigation channel carries water to new plantings in the recently restored floodplain on the banks of the San Joaquin River near Grayson, Calif., on Aug. 31. The restoration work was conducted by the nonprofit River Partners to allow the fast-moving river to spread out over a wider expanse, diminishing its destructive force and preventing catastrophic flooding. \u003ccite>(Tyche Hendricks/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Violent floods wash away homes and livelihoods in communities with neglected levees and insufficient storm drains. And recurring drought contributes to the fact that most of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.auditor.ca.gov/reports/2021-118/index.html\">nearly 1 million Californians who lack access to safe drinking water\u003c/a> live in the Central Valley. [pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Pablo Ortiz-Partida, senior water and climate scientist, Union of Concerned Scientists\"]‘The biggest problem is the combination of things: farmworker communities not having a rest from one climate impact to another.’[/pullquote]“The biggest problem is the combination of things: farmworker communities not having a rest from one climate impact to another,” said Pablo Ortiz-Partida, senior water and climate scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists. “All these things start interconnecting.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ortiz-Partida said policymakers must listen to those who live with these impacts daily.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There needs to be some top-down solutions, but also some bottom-up solutions,” he said. “How can we start that process of equitable transition to cleaner energies? … How can we start bringing a new, more sustainable vision of agriculture in the San Joaquin Valley?”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Left behind in the clean energy transition\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California has established itself as a national leader in climate policy. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.nrdc.org/bio/merrian-borgeson/ca-climate-energy-policy-update-summer-2023\">Natural Resources Defense Council estimates\u003c/a> the state has committed to spend more than $52 billion over the next several years to \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/our-work/programs/ab-32-climate-change-scoping-plan/2022-scoping-plan-documents\">transition off fossil fuels\u003c/a> and tackle the effects of climate change. That’s in addition to the hundreds of millions of dollars from President Joe Biden’s Infrastructure Act and \u003ca href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/California.pdf\">Inflation Reduction Act\u003c/a> that will soon flow to the state to fight climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet low-income immigrant communities in rural areas that are among the most impacted have not always seen the benefit — and could be at risk of losing out again. [aside postID=news_11943590 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/CalMatters_01-1020x680.jpg'] A \u003ca href=\"https://www.next10.org/publications/local-climate\">new report\u003c/a> from UC Berkeley’s Center for Law, Energy, & the Environment, and two nonprofits — the Institute for Local Government and Next 10 — found that many California municipalities, especially smaller ones, need to staff up and develop detailed climate action plans if they want a shot at competitive grants for the unprecedented funding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As the state faces worsening impacts from climate change, local governments are the front-line defense for our communities,” said F. Noel Perry, founder of Next 10. “We need to identify the barriers cities and counties face so we can take full advantage of the historic federal and state funding available to better protect ourselves now and in the future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State Sen. Anna Caballero represents some of the San Joaquin Valley’s poorest places and said climate policies don’t work if they only benefit wealthier residents of coastal cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s seen plenty of well-intentioned climate programs miss the mark for her Central Valley constituents. One example is rebates for purchasing electric cars and solar panels, which require paying the full price upfront and getting the discount later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The urgency of getting this right and including rural communities in our discussion about climate change is that we’re going to end up with two separate worlds,” she said. “If you can afford it, you have an electric vehicle and a solar rooftop. And if you can’t, there’s nothing for you. There’s no job. There’s no way to pay your bills. And your community has no way of sustaining itself.” [pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"State Sen. Anna Caballero\"]‘If you can afford it, you have an electric vehicle and a solar rooftop. And if you can’t, there’s nothing for you.’[/pullquote]The region’s economy is dominated by agriculture and fossil fuel extraction industries, whose leaders trend Republican and have often resisted Democratic moves to slash carbon emissions and protect water and ecosystems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, 55% of the San Joaquin Valley’s 4.3 million residents live in disadvantaged communities, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.energy.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2022-01/CA4_CCA_SJ_Region_Eng_ada.pdf\">California’s Fourth Climate Change Assessment\u003c/a> for the region. \u003ca href=\"https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ETA/naws/pdfs/NAWS%20Research%20Report%2015.pdf\">Among California farmworkers, 9 in 10 are immigrants\u003c/a>, and 8 in 10 are not citizens. Though their labor is essential, and many have lived here for decades, they can’t vote, so their voices and experiences aren’t always represented.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet Caballero, a Democrat, and many other lawmakers and advocates have been pushing for equitable solutions, and some are beginning to bear fruit.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘The river is their backyard’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The unincorporated community of Grayson, on the west bank of the San Joaquin River, is just five-by-six blocks. The only business, The One-Stop, is a gas station, convenience store, lunch counter and laundromat rolled into one. Residents rely on wells for drinking water that are often contaminated with agricultural chemicals from surrounding fields. Flooding has long been a risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lilia Lomelí-Gil, who runs the Grayson United Community Center, pointed out some older homes on Charles Street, where the water rose ominously as rain pounded the region last winter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11966813\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11966813\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A person with long hair stands in front of a dry field.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-01-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-01-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-01-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-01-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-01-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-01-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lilia Lomelí-Gil walks along the recently restored floodplain on the banks of the San Joaquin River near her home in Grayson, Calif., on Aug. 31. Lomelí-Gil, who runs the Grayson United Community Center, said the natural floodplain protected Grayson from flooding last winter and creates a place where community residents can get closer to nature. \u003ccite>(Tyche Hendricks/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The river is their backyard,” she said. “The lady that lives right there in that little house was at risk of getting flooded. It did go up to their yard.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lomelí-Gil, 71, knows that risk firsthand. Back in 1997, she was living in nearby Modesto when \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXEza6kPyFk\">a massive flood hit on New Year’s Day\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I lost my home,” she said. “Because the waters came in 4-feet high. And since we were downriver from the sewage plant, of course, it was all contaminated waters.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She salvaged what she could and moved back to Grayson, where she’d grown up the daughter of farmworkers from Mexico. [pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Lilia Lomelí-Gil, co-founder, Grayson United Community Center\"]‘Going back to nature … It works with mental health and your physical health and your spiritual health. I think that triangle is the key to facing life’s challenges.’[/pullquote]During last winter’s storms, levees failed and catastrophic floods devastated other farmworker communities, like Pajaro and Planada.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Grayson, the San Joaquin River surged, but the outcome was very different: the town did not flood. One reason? A \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/05/28/1178441292/flood-protection-california\">recent floodplain restoration project\u003c/a> allowed the fast-moving river to spread over a wider expanse, diminishing its destructive force.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The work was done by \u003ca href=\"https://riverpartners.org\">River Partners\u003c/a>, a nonprofit organization that restores riverside habitats around California. The group purchased unused farmland abutting the river, then removed the earthen berms holding the water in its channel. Dozens of people from the local community, including Lomelí-Gil, got involved in planting native tree saplings and grasses to restore wildlife habitat in the new floodplain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On a recent weekday, Lomelí-Gil tramped down an abandoned road at the end of Minnie Street to show off the plantings. Once the work is complete, she said, she’s looking forward to taking kids and seniors from the community center out to walk along trails by the river.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Going back to nature … It works with mental health and your physical health and your spiritual health,” she said, stopping to listen to the sound of the birds and the babbling water. “I think that triangle is the key to facing life’s challenges.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Removing levees to allow floods to flow across fallow farmland is a low-tech solution with significant payoffs, River Partners executive director Julie Rentner said. It not only reduces flood risk and expands wildlife habitat and space for recreation, but it refills underground aquifers that have been depleted by decades of over-pumping — and that should lead to cleaner drinking water for Lomelí-Gil and her neighbors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Similar projects will soon break ground. In the wake of last winter’s storms, state lawmakers budgeted nearly half a billion dollars to shore up levees and rebuild damaged communities. Tucked in there was $40 million for River Partners to restore natural floodplains on 2,500 more acres elsewhere along the San Joaquin River.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That money is only a downpayment on what’s ultimately needed, Rentner said, but it’s an important step that could be a game-changer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s thinking more holistically about how we manage our water and our soil and our communities,” she said. ”So that we can find solutions to climate resilience that benefit us all.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Weatherization on steroids’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Extreme heat is another consequence of climate change hitting the San Joaquin Valley hard. Scientists calculate that annual average maximum \u003ca href=\"https://www.energy.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2022-01/CA4_CCA_SJ_Region_Eng_ada.pdf\">temperatures increased by 1F from 1950 to 2020\u003c/a>. In 2021, Fresno experienced \u003ca href=\"https://www.weather.gov/media/hnx/SEPTEMBER%202021%20WEATHER%20SUMMARY.pdf\">a record 69 straight days with temperatures over 100F\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Outside the little city of Tulare, nearly three hours south of Grayson, Arturo Yañez, 55, unloads crates of kiwis and pomegranates. He said in the three decades he’s lived in the valley, he’s felt it get a little hotter each year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11966816\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11966816\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-04-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A person in a baseball cap looks at photos on a shelf inside a home.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-04-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-04-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-04-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-04-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-04-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-04-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Arturo Yañez looks at family photos at his home in Tulare on Aug. 31. He received home weatherization and solar panels through a state program for green energy retrofits for farmworkers’ households. \u003ccite>(Tyche Hendricks/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“This year, too, it was extremely hot,” he said in Spanish. “To work in these temperatures is tough.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To help mitigate the heat, California uses funds from the state’s \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/our-work/programs/california-climate-investments\">cap-and-trade program\u003c/a> to weatherize homes of low-income families, with some of that money \u003ca href=\"https://www.csd.ca.gov/Pages/Farmworker-Housing-Component.aspx\">carved out for the small percentage of farmworkers who are homeowners\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yañez is one of them. On a late summer afternoon, he showed where a crew had laid insulation in his attic and installed ceiling fans. An efficient, electric air-conditioning system was on the way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the thermometer outdoors still reading 103 F at 5 p.m., those measures would make the house more comfortable, he said, and keep his energy costs more manageable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Sometimes, it’s tough to cover all the bills,” he said, adding that when it’s too hot to safely work outside, farmworkers are sent home early, costing them hours on their paychecks. [pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Arturo Yañez, San Joaquin Valley resident\"]‘We’ll be saving energy. And we can help reduce global warming too.’[/pullquote]Yañez had also applied for solar panels through the weatherization program, and that afternoon he learned that he’d qualified. His face lit up in relief.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s wonderful!” he said. “We’ll be saving energy. And we can help reduce global warming too.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Caballero said efforts like these are exactly what the valley needs but they must expand rapidly, to include hundreds of thousands of farmworker families who rent, often in shoddy homes with poor insulation and no air conditioning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s kind of ‘weatherization on steroids,’” she said. “The benefits could be very, very powerful.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office published an \u003ca href=\"https://resources.ca.gov/-/media/CNRA-Website/Files/Initiatives/Climate-Resilience/2022-Final-Extreme-Heat-Action-Plan.pdf\">extreme heat action plan\u003c/a>, and the legislature budgeted $1.1 billion for “decarbonization” retrofits in the homes of low- and moderate-income Californians, such as electric appliances and heat pumps for heating and cooling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, Caballero wrote a bill, signed by Gov. Newsom, to monitor where those funds are spent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We wanted to make sure that, with limited funds, we started with the communities that had the worst extreme heat,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Building a greener economy\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In the town of Huron, becoming more climate resilient is also about creating new jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Surrounded by tomato fields and almond orchards, the Fresno County town of about 6,000 is not the kind of place you’d expect to see Teslas and Chevy Volts. The poverty rate is 40%, and just 3 in 10 adults have finished high school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11960228\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11960228\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68672_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-50-BL-KQED-1.jpg\" alt=\"A person with a moustache and wearing a baseball cap stands in front of a white car.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68672_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-50-BL-KQED-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68672_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-50-BL-KQED-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68672_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-50-BL-KQED-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68672_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-50-BL-KQED-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68672_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-50-BL-KQED-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68672_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-50-BL-KQED-1-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Huron Mayor Rey León stands near an electric vehicle outside the Latino Equity Advocacy & Policy Institute offices, known as LEAP, in Huron, Calif., on Sept. 1, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Yet, from a former diesel garage on an alley behind the struggling main street, a busy rideshare service dispatches drivers in shiny electric cars to ferry Huron residents to the doctor and other appointments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The free program is called \u003ca href=\"https://greenraiteros.org\">Green Raiteros\u003c/a>, a play on the Spanish slang for someone who gives rides. The five-year-old project is the brainchild of Rey León, founding director of the nonprofit \u003ca href=\"https://theleapinstitute.org\">Latino Equity Advocacy & Policy Institute\u003c/a>, or LEAP. Green Raiteros is funded with state grants. And drivers are employees, not gig workers, with pay starting at $18 per hour, according to LEAP staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>León, who’s also Huron’s mayor, said the program is part of his vision of meeting basic needs like transportation while leaning into the green economy. The hope is to both reduce emissions and create jobs, preparing the workforce as climate change-induced drought disrupts the agricultural economy of the Central Valley. [pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Huron Mayor Rey León\"]‘Huron is in an area that’s been not just drought-stricken, but poverty-stricken for a very long time.’[/pullquote]“Huron is in an area that’s been not just drought-stricken, but poverty-stricken for a very long time,” said León, sitting in his office upstairs from the dispatchers. “We hope we can make the investments necessary to employ, empower and really animate folks from the community to advance their economy — with innovative technologies so that we can simultaneously fight the climate crisis.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>León sees the physical health of his community as intertwined with its economic health — and both as inextricably linked with the health of the environment where they live: \u003ca href=\"https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/california-has-some-of-the-worst-air-quality-in-the-country-the-problem-is-rooted-in-the-san-joaquin-valley\">one of the most contaminated air basins in the nation\u003c/a>. Huron residents breathe air that carries dust from the fields, pesticides and smog from nearby Interstate 5.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among other efforts, León has installed 30 EV charging stations around town, planted 300 street trees and enacted measures to promote water conservation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, León is aware that \u003ca href=\"https://www.kvpr.org/environment/2022-11-03/amid-californias-three-year-drought-a-san-joaquin-valley-farmworker-considers-seeking-work-outside-the-region\">tens of thousands of agricultural jobs could dry up\u003c/a> in coming years, as climate-change-fueled drought persists and environmental laws to restore depleted aquifers take effect. The LEAP headquarters on the alley is an incubator for projects he hopes will eventually lead to hundreds of well-paying jobs in manufacturing and environmental stewardship.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11960224\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11960224\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68646_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-13-BL-KQED-1.jpg\" alt=\"A person wearing a baseball cap looks out the window from the backseat of a car.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68646_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-13-BL-KQED-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68646_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-13-BL-KQED-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68646_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-13-BL-KQED-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68646_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-13-BL-KQED-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68646_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-13-BL-KQED-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68646_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-13-BL-KQED-1-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Enrique Contreras gets a ride in an all-electric vehicle from the Green Raiteros rideshare program in Huron, Calif., to a doctor’s appointment on Sept. 1, 2023. The program is run by Latino Equity Advocacy & Policy Institute offices, known as Leap. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In one bay of the garage, several men were building prototypes of portable trailers with solar panels on top, that the \u003ca href=\"https://www.grants.ca.gov/grants/gfo-20-310-mobile-renewable-backup-generation-morbugs/\">California Energy Commission hopes can serve as emergency shelters\u003c/a> and power stations, to deploy during wildfires or other disasters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And in a greenhouse behind the garage, two workers are running an experiment, funded by the USDA, to test a liquid organic fertilizer on tomatoes — with hopes of scaling up production and using local agricultural waste.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Huron’s mayor, León is also \u003ca href=\"https://www.grants.ca.gov/grants/gfo-20-310-mobile-renewable-backup-generation-morbugs/\">scoping the possibility of developing a park\u003c/a> and nature conservancy on 3,000 acres of overgrown federal land just outside of town. He envisions replenishing the underground aquifer there using the town’s treated wastewater, and employing residents to build trails and plant native trees grown in LEAP greenhouses.\u003cbr>\n[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Solange Gould, co-director, Human Impact Partners\"]‘There’s a lot of funding, but the state needs to provide more technical assistance to Central Valley groups to be able to access that money.’[/pullquote]León’s dreams are big, but they’ll take more money, political muscle and capacity building to realize. He knows they won’t happen overnight and, for now, he’s experimenting at a small scale. The Green Raiteros fleet in Huron has 11 cars, but state grants are funding an expansion, with five additional vehicles in Fresno and three more in the Salinas Valley town of Pajaro. In a poor community like his, León said, such government funding has been essential.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If not for the resources provided by state agencies, it really wouldn’t be possible,” he said. “We’re farmworkers and, traditionally, farmworkers have never been afforded the privilege of being able to build up wealth. … We hope that with the projects we’re doing, they could see them as pilots for what could be done in similar communities throughout the state.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Small farming towns like Huron have had some success winning competitive grants. But even with all the new money flowing from state and federal governments, it often goes to big cities and large nonprofits with sophisticated fundraising operations, leaving small, rural places at a disadvantage — even if their need is intense, some advocates say.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are dire inequities on every measure of human wellbeing in the Central Valley because of past and current policies and disinvestment,” said Solange Gould, co-director of Human Impact Partners, a nonprofit that advocates for health equity. “There’s a lot of funding, but the state needs to provide more technical assistance to Central Valley groups to be able to access that money.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A rural community on the banks of the San Joaquin River was spared from flooding during last winter’s powerful storms after hundreds of acres of former farmland were \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11965257/california-looks-to-restore-floodplains-to-protect-communities-from-impacts-of-climate-change\">restored to their natural state as floodplains\u003c/a>, giving the rising water a place to go.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An immigrant family in the Central Valley city of Tulare got relief from 100-degree heat and sky-high energy bills with insulation and energy retrofits installed under a state program to weatherize the homes of low-income farmworkers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A small town mayor in a region with some of the most polluted air in the nation launched a free rideshare program with a fleet of electric vehicles — the first step in his goal of creating hundreds of green jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These are a few of the climate resilience strategies emerging in hard-hit agricultural communities in California’s Central Valley, supported by state and federal funds that could enable local initiatives to scale up. But the very places that need help the most may have the hardest time accessing the funding available, \u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/aYv2COYZQzi2BvYEskPu2V?domain=next10.org\">research shows\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Residents of San Joaquin Valley face a barrage of challenges as the planet warms and weather patterns shift, often with catastrophic results. Land development has been engineered over decades to maximize agricultural productivity, with little attention to environmental resilience. And low-income immigrant workers, who are the backbone of this economy, are on the front lines, living in communities that lack resources and critical infrastructure to cope.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Summer temperatures throughout the valley routinely spike into triple digits, making outdoor work dangerous and shoddily built homes stifling. Wildfires repeatedly blanket the region with smoke, exacerbating the air pollution that leads to the state’s worst rates of asthma.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11966814\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11966814\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A dry field with an irrigation channel alongside it.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-02-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-02-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-02-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-02-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-02-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-02-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An irrigation channel carries water to new plantings in the recently restored floodplain on the banks of the San Joaquin River near Grayson, Calif., on Aug. 31. The restoration work was conducted by the nonprofit River Partners to allow the fast-moving river to spread out over a wider expanse, diminishing its destructive force and preventing catastrophic flooding. \u003ccite>(Tyche Hendricks/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Violent floods wash away homes and livelihoods in communities with neglected levees and insufficient storm drains. And recurring drought contributes to the fact that most of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.auditor.ca.gov/reports/2021-118/index.html\">nearly 1 million Californians who lack access to safe drinking water\u003c/a> live in the Central Valley. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘The biggest problem is the combination of things: farmworker communities not having a rest from one climate impact to another.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“The biggest problem is the combination of things: farmworker communities not having a rest from one climate impact to another,” said Pablo Ortiz-Partida, senior water and climate scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists. “All these things start interconnecting.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ortiz-Partida said policymakers must listen to those who live with these impacts daily.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There needs to be some top-down solutions, but also some bottom-up solutions,” he said. “How can we start that process of equitable transition to cleaner energies? … How can we start bringing a new, more sustainable vision of agriculture in the San Joaquin Valley?”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Left behind in the clean energy transition\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California has established itself as a national leader in climate policy. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.nrdc.org/bio/merrian-borgeson/ca-climate-energy-policy-update-summer-2023\">Natural Resources Defense Council estimates\u003c/a> the state has committed to spend more than $52 billion over the next several years to \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/our-work/programs/ab-32-climate-change-scoping-plan/2022-scoping-plan-documents\">transition off fossil fuels\u003c/a> and tackle the effects of climate change. That’s in addition to the hundreds of millions of dollars from President Joe Biden’s Infrastructure Act and \u003ca href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/California.pdf\">Inflation Reduction Act\u003c/a> that will soon flow to the state to fight climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet low-income immigrant communities in rural areas that are among the most impacted have not always seen the benefit — and could be at risk of losing out again. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp> A \u003ca href=\"https://www.next10.org/publications/local-climate\">new report\u003c/a> from UC Berkeley’s Center for Law, Energy, & the Environment, and two nonprofits — the Institute for Local Government and Next 10 — found that many California municipalities, especially smaller ones, need to staff up and develop detailed climate action plans if they want a shot at competitive grants for the unprecedented funding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As the state faces worsening impacts from climate change, local governments are the front-line defense for our communities,” said F. Noel Perry, founder of Next 10. “We need to identify the barriers cities and counties face so we can take full advantage of the historic federal and state funding available to better protect ourselves now and in the future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State Sen. Anna Caballero represents some of the San Joaquin Valley’s poorest places and said climate policies don’t work if they only benefit wealthier residents of coastal cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s seen plenty of well-intentioned climate programs miss the mark for her Central Valley constituents. One example is rebates for purchasing electric cars and solar panels, which require paying the full price upfront and getting the discount later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The urgency of getting this right and including rural communities in our discussion about climate change is that we’re going to end up with two separate worlds,” she said. “If you can afford it, you have an electric vehicle and a solar rooftop. And if you can’t, there’s nothing for you. There’s no job. There’s no way to pay your bills. And your community has no way of sustaining itself.” \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘If you can afford it, you have an electric vehicle and a solar rooftop. And if you can’t, there’s nothing for you.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The region’s economy is dominated by agriculture and fossil fuel extraction industries, whose leaders trend Republican and have often resisted Democratic moves to slash carbon emissions and protect water and ecosystems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, 55% of the San Joaquin Valley’s 4.3 million residents live in disadvantaged communities, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.energy.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2022-01/CA4_CCA_SJ_Region_Eng_ada.pdf\">California’s Fourth Climate Change Assessment\u003c/a> for the region. \u003ca href=\"https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ETA/naws/pdfs/NAWS%20Research%20Report%2015.pdf\">Among California farmworkers, 9 in 10 are immigrants\u003c/a>, and 8 in 10 are not citizens. Though their labor is essential, and many have lived here for decades, they can’t vote, so their voices and experiences aren’t always represented.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet Caballero, a Democrat, and many other lawmakers and advocates have been pushing for equitable solutions, and some are beginning to bear fruit.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘The river is their backyard’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The unincorporated community of Grayson, on the west bank of the San Joaquin River, is just five-by-six blocks. The only business, The One-Stop, is a gas station, convenience store, lunch counter and laundromat rolled into one. Residents rely on wells for drinking water that are often contaminated with agricultural chemicals from surrounding fields. Flooding has long been a risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lilia Lomelí-Gil, who runs the Grayson United Community Center, pointed out some older homes on Charles Street, where the water rose ominously as rain pounded the region last winter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11966813\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11966813\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A person with long hair stands in front of a dry field.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-01-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-01-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-01-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-01-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-01-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-01-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lilia Lomelí-Gil walks along the recently restored floodplain on the banks of the San Joaquin River near her home in Grayson, Calif., on Aug. 31. Lomelí-Gil, who runs the Grayson United Community Center, said the natural floodplain protected Grayson from flooding last winter and creates a place where community residents can get closer to nature. \u003ccite>(Tyche Hendricks/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The river is their backyard,” she said. “The lady that lives right there in that little house was at risk of getting flooded. It did go up to their yard.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lomelí-Gil, 71, knows that risk firsthand. Back in 1997, she was living in nearby Modesto when \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXEza6kPyFk\">a massive flood hit on New Year’s Day\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I lost my home,” she said. “Because the waters came in 4-feet high. And since we were downriver from the sewage plant, of course, it was all contaminated waters.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She salvaged what she could and moved back to Grayson, where she’d grown up the daughter of farmworkers from Mexico. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>During last winter’s storms, levees failed and catastrophic floods devastated other farmworker communities, like Pajaro and Planada.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Grayson, the San Joaquin River surged, but the outcome was very different: the town did not flood. One reason? A \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/05/28/1178441292/flood-protection-california\">recent floodplain restoration project\u003c/a> allowed the fast-moving river to spread over a wider expanse, diminishing its destructive force.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The work was done by \u003ca href=\"https://riverpartners.org\">River Partners\u003c/a>, a nonprofit organization that restores riverside habitats around California. The group purchased unused farmland abutting the river, then removed the earthen berms holding the water in its channel. Dozens of people from the local community, including Lomelí-Gil, got involved in planting native tree saplings and grasses to restore wildlife habitat in the new floodplain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On a recent weekday, Lomelí-Gil tramped down an abandoned road at the end of Minnie Street to show off the plantings. Once the work is complete, she said, she’s looking forward to taking kids and seniors from the community center out to walk along trails by the river.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Going back to nature … It works with mental health and your physical health and your spiritual health,” she said, stopping to listen to the sound of the birds and the babbling water. “I think that triangle is the key to facing life’s challenges.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Removing levees to allow floods to flow across fallow farmland is a low-tech solution with significant payoffs, River Partners executive director Julie Rentner said. It not only reduces flood risk and expands wildlife habitat and space for recreation, but it refills underground aquifers that have been depleted by decades of over-pumping — and that should lead to cleaner drinking water for Lomelí-Gil and her neighbors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Similar projects will soon break ground. In the wake of last winter’s storms, state lawmakers budgeted nearly half a billion dollars to shore up levees and rebuild damaged communities. Tucked in there was $40 million for River Partners to restore natural floodplains on 2,500 more acres elsewhere along the San Joaquin River.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That money is only a downpayment on what’s ultimately needed, Rentner said, but it’s an important step that could be a game-changer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s thinking more holistically about how we manage our water and our soil and our communities,” she said. ”So that we can find solutions to climate resilience that benefit us all.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Weatherization on steroids’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Extreme heat is another consequence of climate change hitting the San Joaquin Valley hard. Scientists calculate that annual average maximum \u003ca href=\"https://www.energy.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2022-01/CA4_CCA_SJ_Region_Eng_ada.pdf\">temperatures increased by 1F from 1950 to 2020\u003c/a>. In 2021, Fresno experienced \u003ca href=\"https://www.weather.gov/media/hnx/SEPTEMBER%202021%20WEATHER%20SUMMARY.pdf\">a record 69 straight days with temperatures over 100F\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Outside the little city of Tulare, nearly three hours south of Grayson, Arturo Yañez, 55, unloads crates of kiwis and pomegranates. He said in the three decades he’s lived in the valley, he’s felt it get a little hotter each year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11966816\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11966816\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-04-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A person in a baseball cap looks at photos on a shelf inside a home.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-04-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-04-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-04-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-04-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-04-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-04-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Arturo Yañez looks at family photos at his home in Tulare on Aug. 31. He received home weatherization and solar panels through a state program for green energy retrofits for farmworkers’ households. \u003ccite>(Tyche Hendricks/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“This year, too, it was extremely hot,” he said in Spanish. “To work in these temperatures is tough.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To help mitigate the heat, California uses funds from the state’s \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/our-work/programs/california-climate-investments\">cap-and-trade program\u003c/a> to weatherize homes of low-income families, with some of that money \u003ca href=\"https://www.csd.ca.gov/Pages/Farmworker-Housing-Component.aspx\">carved out for the small percentage of farmworkers who are homeowners\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yañez is one of them. On a late summer afternoon, he showed where a crew had laid insulation in his attic and installed ceiling fans. An efficient, electric air-conditioning system was on the way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the thermometer outdoors still reading 103 F at 5 p.m., those measures would make the house more comfortable, he said, and keep his energy costs more manageable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Sometimes, it’s tough to cover all the bills,” he said, adding that when it’s too hot to safely work outside, farmworkers are sent home early, costing them hours on their paychecks. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Yañez had also applied for solar panels through the weatherization program, and that afternoon he learned that he’d qualified. His face lit up in relief.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s wonderful!” he said. “We’ll be saving energy. And we can help reduce global warming too.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Caballero said efforts like these are exactly what the valley needs but they must expand rapidly, to include hundreds of thousands of farmworker families who rent, often in shoddy homes with poor insulation and no air conditioning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s kind of ‘weatherization on steroids,’” she said. “The benefits could be very, very powerful.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office published an \u003ca href=\"https://resources.ca.gov/-/media/CNRA-Website/Files/Initiatives/Climate-Resilience/2022-Final-Extreme-Heat-Action-Plan.pdf\">extreme heat action plan\u003c/a>, and the legislature budgeted $1.1 billion for “decarbonization” retrofits in the homes of low- and moderate-income Californians, such as electric appliances and heat pumps for heating and cooling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, Caballero wrote a bill, signed by Gov. Newsom, to monitor where those funds are spent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We wanted to make sure that, with limited funds, we started with the communities that had the worst extreme heat,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Building a greener economy\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In the town of Huron, becoming more climate resilient is also about creating new jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Surrounded by tomato fields and almond orchards, the Fresno County town of about 6,000 is not the kind of place you’d expect to see Teslas and Chevy Volts. The poverty rate is 40%, and just 3 in 10 adults have finished high school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11960228\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11960228\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68672_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-50-BL-KQED-1.jpg\" alt=\"A person with a moustache and wearing a baseball cap stands in front of a white car.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68672_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-50-BL-KQED-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68672_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-50-BL-KQED-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68672_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-50-BL-KQED-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68672_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-50-BL-KQED-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68672_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-50-BL-KQED-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68672_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-50-BL-KQED-1-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Huron Mayor Rey León stands near an electric vehicle outside the Latino Equity Advocacy & Policy Institute offices, known as LEAP, in Huron, Calif., on Sept. 1, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Yet, from a former diesel garage on an alley behind the struggling main street, a busy rideshare service dispatches drivers in shiny electric cars to ferry Huron residents to the doctor and other appointments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The free program is called \u003ca href=\"https://greenraiteros.org\">Green Raiteros\u003c/a>, a play on the Spanish slang for someone who gives rides. The five-year-old project is the brainchild of Rey León, founding director of the nonprofit \u003ca href=\"https://theleapinstitute.org\">Latino Equity Advocacy & Policy Institute\u003c/a>, or LEAP. Green Raiteros is funded with state grants. And drivers are employees, not gig workers, with pay starting at $18 per hour, according to LEAP staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>León, who’s also Huron’s mayor, said the program is part of his vision of meeting basic needs like transportation while leaning into the green economy. The hope is to both reduce emissions and create jobs, preparing the workforce as climate change-induced drought disrupts the agricultural economy of the Central Valley. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Huron is in an area that’s been not just drought-stricken, but poverty-stricken for a very long time,” said León, sitting in his office upstairs from the dispatchers. “We hope we can make the investments necessary to employ, empower and really animate folks from the community to advance their economy — with innovative technologies so that we can simultaneously fight the climate crisis.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>León sees the physical health of his community as intertwined with its economic health — and both as inextricably linked with the health of the environment where they live: \u003ca href=\"https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/california-has-some-of-the-worst-air-quality-in-the-country-the-problem-is-rooted-in-the-san-joaquin-valley\">one of the most contaminated air basins in the nation\u003c/a>. Huron residents breathe air that carries dust from the fields, pesticides and smog from nearby Interstate 5.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among other efforts, León has installed 30 EV charging stations around town, planted 300 street trees and enacted measures to promote water conservation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, León is aware that \u003ca href=\"https://www.kvpr.org/environment/2022-11-03/amid-californias-three-year-drought-a-san-joaquin-valley-farmworker-considers-seeking-work-outside-the-region\">tens of thousands of agricultural jobs could dry up\u003c/a> in coming years, as climate-change-fueled drought persists and environmental laws to restore depleted aquifers take effect. The LEAP headquarters on the alley is an incubator for projects he hopes will eventually lead to hundreds of well-paying jobs in manufacturing and environmental stewardship.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11960224\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11960224\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68646_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-13-BL-KQED-1.jpg\" alt=\"A person wearing a baseball cap looks out the window from the backseat of a car.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68646_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-13-BL-KQED-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68646_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-13-BL-KQED-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68646_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-13-BL-KQED-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68646_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-13-BL-KQED-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68646_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-13-BL-KQED-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68646_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-13-BL-KQED-1-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Enrique Contreras gets a ride in an all-electric vehicle from the Green Raiteros rideshare program in Huron, Calif., to a doctor’s appointment on Sept. 1, 2023. The program is run by Latino Equity Advocacy & Policy Institute offices, known as Leap. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In one bay of the garage, several men were building prototypes of portable trailers with solar panels on top, that the \u003ca href=\"https://www.grants.ca.gov/grants/gfo-20-310-mobile-renewable-backup-generation-morbugs/\">California Energy Commission hopes can serve as emergency shelters\u003c/a> and power stations, to deploy during wildfires or other disasters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And in a greenhouse behind the garage, two workers are running an experiment, funded by the USDA, to test a liquid organic fertilizer on tomatoes — with hopes of scaling up production and using local agricultural waste.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Huron’s mayor, León is also \u003ca href=\"https://www.grants.ca.gov/grants/gfo-20-310-mobile-renewable-backup-generation-morbugs/\">scoping the possibility of developing a park\u003c/a> and nature conservancy on 3,000 acres of overgrown federal land just outside of town. He envisions replenishing the underground aquifer there using the town’s treated wastewater, and employing residents to build trails and plant native trees grown in LEAP greenhouses.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>León’s dreams are big, but they’ll take more money, political muscle and capacity building to realize. He knows they won’t happen overnight and, for now, he’s experimenting at a small scale. The Green Raiteros fleet in Huron has 11 cars, but state grants are funding an expansion, with five additional vehicles in Fresno and three more in the Salinas Valley town of Pajaro. In a poor community like his, León said, such government funding has been essential.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If not for the resources provided by state agencies, it really wouldn’t be possible,” he said. “We’re farmworkers and, traditionally, farmworkers have never been afforded the privilege of being able to build up wealth. … We hope that with the projects we’re doing, they could see them as pilots for what could be done in similar communities throughout the state.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Small farming towns like Huron have had some success winning competitive grants. But even with all the new money flowing from state and federal governments, it often goes to big cities and large nonprofits with sophisticated fundraising operations, leaving small, rural places at a disadvantage — even if their need is intense, some advocates say.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are dire inequities on every measure of human wellbeing in the Central Valley because of past and current policies and disinvestment,” said Solange Gould, co-director of Human Impact Partners, a nonprofit that advocates for health equity. “There’s a lot of funding, but the state needs to provide more technical assistance to Central Valley groups to be able to access that money.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "6 Months After Devastating Floods, Pajaro Struggles to Rebuild Before Winter",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was adapted from \u003ca href=\"https://www.kazu.org/tags/pajaro-river-levee\">two separate articles\u003c/a> originally published by KAZU. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This week marks six months since powerful storms overwhelmed the aging levee system and flooded the small farming community of Pajaro, just outside Watsonville, in Monterey County — \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11943316/pajaro-river-levee-breached-where-to-find-evacuation-shelters\">forcing thousands to evacuate their homes\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many of them still haven’t been able to return to their flood-damaged houses — and repairs both to the town and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kazu.org/kazu-news/2023-08-24/despite-repairs-a-new-and-safer-pajaro-levee-is-still-years-away\">to the levees\u003c/a> may not come in time for this winter’s rainy season.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The house is not the same,” said Tomas Garcia. His family has owned their home in Pajaro since 1985. Now, it sits mostly empty of furniture. Its bare walls are in need of paint, and parts of the roof have been replaced with corrugated plastic. He and his family are staying with relatives just outside of town while they continue work on the repairs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We wish we could have finished this two or three months ago,” he said. “But everything has to do with funds.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://youtu.be/Wk7zuhDisc8\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They recently replaced their floors, but now the work is stalled as Garcia waits on appeals to FEMA and his insurance company.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t feel safe yet until we finish all this,” he said. “We still need to do a lot of things.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like Garcia, much of Pajaro is struggling to return to normal. Main Street is busy again with traffic, businesses are open. But the middle school remains closed, as does the library. Cars covered in grime sit on the side of the road — abandoned since the flooding on March 10. Residents say the empty cars now serve as lingering reminders of the lives that are still upended.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11961786\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2023/09/20/six-months-after-devastating-floods-pajaro-struggles-to-rebuild-before-winter/03242023_kqed_pajaroreturning-1924-qut/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-11961786\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11961786\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/03242023_kqed_pajaroreturning-1924-qut.jpg\" alt=\"a pile of broken muddy furniture outside a house\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1277\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/03242023_kqed_pajaroreturning-1924-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/03242023_kqed_pajaroreturning-1924-qut-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/03242023_kqed_pajaroreturning-1924-qut-1020x678.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/03242023_kqed_pajaroreturning-1924-qut-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/03242023_kqed_pajaroreturning-1924-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Piles of mud-coated furniture and other belongings sit outside a home in Pajaro, Monterey County, on March 24 — days after residents were first allowed to return to their homes. \u003ccite>(Kori Suzuki/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Lost jobs and lost homes\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For Michele Keith, the disaster has felt relentless.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Nobody understands what we’re going through,” she said. Keith was living in her parents’ home when they were evacuated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My mom and dad lost everything on the lower half of the house,” she said. “They were there 25 years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For months, she stayed alongside dozens of other displaced Pajaro residents at a motel in Watsonville, paid for by Monterey County. But the program ended on Aug. 23.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How am I supposed to work and be stressed out about a place to stay?” she said. “It’s just been so upsetting.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A spokesperson for the county said the hotel program helped more than 200 people transition into permanent housing. But 60 residents, including Keith, were still living there when the program ended. They were offered another hotel option in Marina, about 25 minutes drive away, but nearly half opted not to make the move because of the distance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_11944295,news_11944008 label='Pajaro Rebuilds']Monica Chavez-Gonzalez, a case manager at local nonprofit \u003ca href=\"https://communitybridges.org/\">Community Bridges\u003c/a>, said many people can’t afford a new rental.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It takes about $10,000 just to get into a place,” she said, when considering first and last month’s rent plus security deposit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Community Bridges has helped residents navigate FEMA appeals, file insurance claims, and locate housing options. But, in addition to the high cost of living in the area, many residents also lost their jobs after the floods. The agricultural fields around Pajaro were damaged, crops ruined, and many out of commission for months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A survey by the Monterey County Agricultural Commission found that 5% of the county’s agricultural lands were destroyed by the storms — most of them in the Pajaro Valley. In total, floods and rain caused $600 million in damages this year. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kazu.org/kazu-news/2023-05-12/monterey-bay-farmers-are-struggling-to-rebound-from-winter-storms-the-ripple-effect-is-huge\">Strawberries, a major Pajaro Valley crop, were hit hardest of all\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Long-term levee reconstruction still years away\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://omny.fm/shows/kqed-segmented-audio/permanent-fix-for-pajaro-levee-still-years-away/embed?style=Cover\" width=\"100%\" height=\"180\" allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write\" frameborder=\"0\" title=\"Permanent Fix For Pajaro Levee Still Years Away\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Federal and state support has bolstered recent recovery efforts. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kazu.org/kazu-news/2023-04-07/fema-relief-has-arrived-but-not-everyone-in-pajaro-will-qualify\">After President Biden declared a federal disaster in April\u003c/a>, FEMA provided over $5.5 million in aid. And the state \u003ca href=\"https://www.kazu.org/kazu-news/2023-06-09/a-calmatters-reporter-discusses-californias-95-million-plan-to-help-undocumented-flooding-victims\">made $95 million available to help support undocumented residents\u003c/a>, who cannot access other forms of support, like unemployment insurance or federal assistance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom also signed a budget plan in June that carved out $20 million specifically to support Pajaro’s recovery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Mark Strudley, Pajaro Regional Flood Management Agency\"]‘I’m not going to sugarcoat it. We still have an old, aging levee system that needs to be rebuilt.’[/pullquote]Vicente Lara, who works for Monterey County, says a task force is working with the community now to decide how to best spend that money. He expects the task force to make recommendations to county supervisors within six to 12 months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Recognizing that we’re not all at the same place,” he said. “We really have to support, especially, those residents who are still struggling in any way we can.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kazu.org/kazu-news/2023-08-24/despite-repairs-a-new-and-safer-pajaro-levee-is-still-years-away\">crews from the Army Corps of Engineers are racing to complete work\u003c/a> to repair the levee here and at two other breaks downstream in time for the rainy season. Mark Strudley, head of Pajaro Regional Flood Management Agency, says they’ll get it done.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Corps has made that commitment to us and to the community,” he said. But those repairs will only \u003ca href=\"https://www.kazu.org/kazu-news/2023-08-24/despite-repairs-a-new-and-safer-pajaro-levee-is-still-years-away\">bring the levee back to its condition before the devastating floods in March\u003c/a>. Major upgrades are still years away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>March wasn’t the first time Pajaro has flooded. The levee has failed four other times since it was built in the 1940s and the system was designated by Congress as inadequate in 1966, but funding to replace the levee has repeatedly taken a backseat — often to \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-03-20/a-long-history-of-racism-set-the-stage-for-pajaro-flooding\">flood protection projects in more affluent areas\u003c/a>. Last year, the project finally won $149 million in funding under \u003ca href=\"https://www.kazu.org/npr-news/2021-11-15/biden-signs-the-1-trillion-bipartisan-infrastructure-bill-into-law\">the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law\u003c/a>, along with a $140 million commitment from the state — enough to move forward on the $400 million reconstruction. But officials said it still would take another 10 years to complete.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m not going to sugarcoat it. We still have an old, aging levee system that needs to be rebuilt,” said Strudley. “I can’t, with a clear conscience, tell the community not to be worried.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Strudley says the project has to go through acquiring easements or property in order to expand and rebuild the levees. Utilities have to be moved and permits acquired. Federal budget rules also prevent the Army Corps from using repair funds to replace the levee. “There’s no way to advance that at a quicker pace than we’re doing now,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11961790\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2023/09/20/six-months-after-devastating-floods-pajaro-struggles-to-rebuild-before-winter/pajaro/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-11961790\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-11961790\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/pajaro-1020x680.jpg\" alt=\"a man wearing a baseball hat stands in a house with the outside covered in a tarp\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/pajaro-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/pajaro-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/pajaro-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/pajaro-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/pajaro.jpg 1760w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tomas Garcia replaced his damaged roof with corrugated plastic. He is working with insurance and FEMA to get funds to continue repairs ahead of winter. \u003ccite>(Jerimiah Oetting/KAZU News)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kazu.org/kazu-news/2023-09-15/a-bill-to-speed-up-pajaro-river-levee-reconstruction-heads-to-gov-newsoms-desk\">A bill passed last week\u003c/a> by the state Legislature would expedite permitting and potentially speed up the project by five years. It was written by California Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, whose district includes Pajaro. And U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren, who also represents Pajaro, is seeking $200 million in federal funding to streamline the Army Corps contracting. But that’s bottled up in the congressional budget battle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For now, that leaves many residents feeling left behind and worried about the approaching winter. It’s a concern Strudley says he understands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If I were a community member, I would be frustrated just like they are. They’ve been living with these old levees for decades,” he said. “The sad truth is that any project of this scale is going to take many years to build.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re really concerned about that,” Tomas Garcia said, as he’s racing to complete his own repairs. “That’s why we try to finish this, to make the house a little bit more secure.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The family has been through all this before, when the Pajaro levee breached in 1995. Back then, Garcia’s father repaired the home himself, without help from the government.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nearly 30 years later, Garcia’s father sits in his empty living room, breathing with the help of an oxygen tank. Garcia believes the stress of the floods has worsened his health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was adapted from \u003ca href=\"https://www.kazu.org/tags/pajaro-river-levee\">two separate articles\u003c/a> originally published by KAZU. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This week marks six months since powerful storms overwhelmed the aging levee system and flooded the small farming community of Pajaro, just outside Watsonville, in Monterey County — \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11943316/pajaro-river-levee-breached-where-to-find-evacuation-shelters\">forcing thousands to evacuate their homes\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many of them still haven’t been able to return to their flood-damaged houses — and repairs both to the town and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kazu.org/kazu-news/2023-08-24/despite-repairs-a-new-and-safer-pajaro-levee-is-still-years-away\">to the levees\u003c/a> may not come in time for this winter’s rainy season.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The house is not the same,” said Tomas Garcia. His family has owned their home in Pajaro since 1985. Now, it sits mostly empty of furniture. Its bare walls are in need of paint, and parts of the roof have been replaced with corrugated plastic. He and his family are staying with relatives just outside of town while they continue work on the repairs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We wish we could have finished this two or three months ago,” he said. “But everything has to do with funds.”\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/Wk7zuhDisc8'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/Wk7zuhDisc8'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They recently replaced their floors, but now the work is stalled as Garcia waits on appeals to FEMA and his insurance company.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t feel safe yet until we finish all this,” he said. “We still need to do a lot of things.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like Garcia, much of Pajaro is struggling to return to normal. Main Street is busy again with traffic, businesses are open. But the middle school remains closed, as does the library. Cars covered in grime sit on the side of the road — abandoned since the flooding on March 10. Residents say the empty cars now serve as lingering reminders of the lives that are still upended.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11961786\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2023/09/20/six-months-after-devastating-floods-pajaro-struggles-to-rebuild-before-winter/03242023_kqed_pajaroreturning-1924-qut/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-11961786\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11961786\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/03242023_kqed_pajaroreturning-1924-qut.jpg\" alt=\"a pile of broken muddy furniture outside a house\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1277\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/03242023_kqed_pajaroreturning-1924-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/03242023_kqed_pajaroreturning-1924-qut-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/03242023_kqed_pajaroreturning-1924-qut-1020x678.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/03242023_kqed_pajaroreturning-1924-qut-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/03242023_kqed_pajaroreturning-1924-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Piles of mud-coated furniture and other belongings sit outside a home in Pajaro, Monterey County, on March 24 — days after residents were first allowed to return to their homes. \u003ccite>(Kori Suzuki/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Lost jobs and lost homes\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For Michele Keith, the disaster has felt relentless.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Nobody understands what we’re going through,” she said. Keith was living in her parents’ home when they were evacuated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My mom and dad lost everything on the lower half of the house,” she said. “They were there 25 years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For months, she stayed alongside dozens of other displaced Pajaro residents at a motel in Watsonville, paid for by Monterey County. But the program ended on Aug. 23.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How am I supposed to work and be stressed out about a place to stay?” she said. “It’s just been so upsetting.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A spokesperson for the county said the hotel program helped more than 200 people transition into permanent housing. But 60 residents, including Keith, were still living there when the program ended. They were offered another hotel option in Marina, about 25 minutes drive away, but nearly half opted not to make the move because of the distance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Monica Chavez-Gonzalez, a case manager at local nonprofit \u003ca href=\"https://communitybridges.org/\">Community Bridges\u003c/a>, said many people can’t afford a new rental.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It takes about $10,000 just to get into a place,” she said, when considering first and last month’s rent plus security deposit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Community Bridges has helped residents navigate FEMA appeals, file insurance claims, and locate housing options. But, in addition to the high cost of living in the area, many residents also lost their jobs after the floods. The agricultural fields around Pajaro were damaged, crops ruined, and many out of commission for months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A survey by the Monterey County Agricultural Commission found that 5% of the county’s agricultural lands were destroyed by the storms — most of them in the Pajaro Valley. In total, floods and rain caused $600 million in damages this year. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kazu.org/kazu-news/2023-05-12/monterey-bay-farmers-are-struggling-to-rebound-from-winter-storms-the-ripple-effect-is-huge\">Strawberries, a major Pajaro Valley crop, were hit hardest of all\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Long-term levee reconstruction still years away\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://omny.fm/shows/kqed-segmented-audio/permanent-fix-for-pajaro-levee-still-years-away/embed?style=Cover\" width=\"100%\" height=\"180\" allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write\" frameborder=\"0\" title=\"Permanent Fix For Pajaro Levee Still Years Away\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Federal and state support has bolstered recent recovery efforts. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kazu.org/kazu-news/2023-04-07/fema-relief-has-arrived-but-not-everyone-in-pajaro-will-qualify\">After President Biden declared a federal disaster in April\u003c/a>, FEMA provided over $5.5 million in aid. And the state \u003ca href=\"https://www.kazu.org/kazu-news/2023-06-09/a-calmatters-reporter-discusses-californias-95-million-plan-to-help-undocumented-flooding-victims\">made $95 million available to help support undocumented residents\u003c/a>, who cannot access other forms of support, like unemployment insurance or federal assistance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom also signed a budget plan in June that carved out $20 million specifically to support Pajaro’s recovery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘I’m not going to sugarcoat it. We still have an old, aging levee system that needs to be rebuilt.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Vicente Lara, who works for Monterey County, says a task force is working with the community now to decide how to best spend that money. He expects the task force to make recommendations to county supervisors within six to 12 months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Recognizing that we’re not all at the same place,” he said. “We really have to support, especially, those residents who are still struggling in any way we can.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kazu.org/kazu-news/2023-08-24/despite-repairs-a-new-and-safer-pajaro-levee-is-still-years-away\">crews from the Army Corps of Engineers are racing to complete work\u003c/a> to repair the levee here and at two other breaks downstream in time for the rainy season. Mark Strudley, head of Pajaro Regional Flood Management Agency, says they’ll get it done.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Corps has made that commitment to us and to the community,” he said. But those repairs will only \u003ca href=\"https://www.kazu.org/kazu-news/2023-08-24/despite-repairs-a-new-and-safer-pajaro-levee-is-still-years-away\">bring the levee back to its condition before the devastating floods in March\u003c/a>. Major upgrades are still years away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>March wasn’t the first time Pajaro has flooded. The levee has failed four other times since it was built in the 1940s and the system was designated by Congress as inadequate in 1966, but funding to replace the levee has repeatedly taken a backseat — often to \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-03-20/a-long-history-of-racism-set-the-stage-for-pajaro-flooding\">flood protection projects in more affluent areas\u003c/a>. Last year, the project finally won $149 million in funding under \u003ca href=\"https://www.kazu.org/npr-news/2021-11-15/biden-signs-the-1-trillion-bipartisan-infrastructure-bill-into-law\">the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law\u003c/a>, along with a $140 million commitment from the state — enough to move forward on the $400 million reconstruction. But officials said it still would take another 10 years to complete.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m not going to sugarcoat it. We still have an old, aging levee system that needs to be rebuilt,” said Strudley. “I can’t, with a clear conscience, tell the community not to be worried.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Strudley says the project has to go through acquiring easements or property in order to expand and rebuild the levees. Utilities have to be moved and permits acquired. Federal budget rules also prevent the Army Corps from using repair funds to replace the levee. “There’s no way to advance that at a quicker pace than we’re doing now,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11961790\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2023/09/20/six-months-after-devastating-floods-pajaro-struggles-to-rebuild-before-winter/pajaro/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-11961790\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-11961790\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/pajaro-1020x680.jpg\" alt=\"a man wearing a baseball hat stands in a house with the outside covered in a tarp\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/pajaro-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/pajaro-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/pajaro-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/pajaro-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/pajaro.jpg 1760w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tomas Garcia replaced his damaged roof with corrugated plastic. He is working with insurance and FEMA to get funds to continue repairs ahead of winter. \u003ccite>(Jerimiah Oetting/KAZU News)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kazu.org/kazu-news/2023-09-15/a-bill-to-speed-up-pajaro-river-levee-reconstruction-heads-to-gov-newsoms-desk\">A bill passed last week\u003c/a> by the state Legislature would expedite permitting and potentially speed up the project by five years. It was written by California Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, whose district includes Pajaro. And U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren, who also represents Pajaro, is seeking $200 million in federal funding to streamline the Army Corps contracting. But that’s bottled up in the congressional budget battle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For now, that leaves many residents feeling left behind and worried about the approaching winter. It’s a concern Strudley says he understands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If I were a community member, I would be frustrated just like they are. They’ve been living with these old levees for decades,” he said. “The sad truth is that any project of this scale is going to take many years to build.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re really concerned about that,” Tomas Garcia said, as he’s racing to complete his own repairs. “That’s why we try to finish this, to make the house a little bit more secure.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The family has been through all this before, when the Pajaro levee breached in 1995. Back then, Garcia’s father repaired the home himself, without help from the government.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nearly 30 years later, Garcia’s father sits in his empty living room, breathing with the help of an oxygen tank. Garcia believes the stress of the floods has worsened his health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Hurricane Hilary, Now Post-Tropical Storm, Leaves Southern California Drenched",
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"headTitle": "Hurricane Hilary, Now Post-Tropical Storm, Leaves Southern California Drenched | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Tropical Storm Hilary \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11958562/hurricane-hilary-hits-what-california-and-the-bay-area-can-expect\">drenched Southern California on Sunday from the coast to the desert resort city of Palm Springs\u003c/a>, forcing rescuers to pull several people from swollen rivers, before heading east and flooding a county about 40 miles outside of Las Vegas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The National Hurricane Center in Miami downgraded Hilary to a post-tropical storm Monday morning, but warned that “continued life-threatening and locally catastrophic flooding” was expected over portions of the southwestern United States, along with “record breaking” rainfall and potential flooding as far north as Oregon and Idaho.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Remnants of the storm that first brought soaking rains to Mexico’s arid Baja California peninsula and the border city of Tijuana were expected to linger at least through Tuesday morning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11958713\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11958713\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1614147590-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A large freeway cuts through the desert landscape. However, parts of this road are completely blocked off by large quantities of water that remain after heavy rains.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1708\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1614147590-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1614147590-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1614147590-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1614147590-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1614147590-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1614147590-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1614147590-1920x1281.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An aerial image shows no traffic on Interstate 10 due to flooding and mud crossing the highway following heavy rains from Tropical Storm Hilary, in Rancho Mirage, California, on Aug. 21, 2023. \u003ccite>(David Swanson/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2023/08/19/governor-newsom-proclaims-state-of-emergency-as-hurricane-hilary-approaches-california/\">declared a state of emergency on Saturday for much of Southern California\u003c/a>, a typically dry area, but where residents on Sunday had to battle flooded roads, mudslides and downed trees. Winding roads in the San Bernardino Mountains east of Los Angeles were blocked by mud and debris flows. A stretch of the Interstate 10 freeway near Palm Springs was also shut to traffic due to pooling water from the storm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Along the coast, a stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway in surf-friendly Huntington Beach was also flooded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Thank God my family is OK,” Maura Taura said after a three-story-tall tree crashed down on her daughter’s two cars but missed the family’s house in the Sun Valley area of Los Angeles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11958711\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11958711\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1629829257-scaled.jpg\" alt='Several large trees have fallen over in a residential area. One tree has yellow tape that reads \"Caution\" wrapped around it.' width=\"2560\" height=\"1699\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1629829257-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1629829257-800x531.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1629829257-1020x677.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1629829257-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1629829257-1536x1019.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1629829257-2048x1359.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1629829257-1920x1274.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A view of a tree that fell onto a house on Aug. 21, 2023 in Sierra Madre, California. \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Hilary is just the latest major weather or climate disaster to wreak havoc across the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Hawaii’s island of Maui is still reeling from a blaze that killed more than 100 people and ravaged the historic town of Lahaina, making it the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century. Firefighters in Canada are battling that nation’s worst fire season on record.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first tropical storm to hit Southern California in 84 years, Hilary first made landfall in Baja California on Sunday in a sparsely populated area about 150 miles south of Ensenada. One person drowned. It then moved through mudslide-prone Tijuana, threatening the improvised homes that cling to hillsides just south of the U.S. border.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hilary dropped more than half an average year’s worth of rain on some areas, including Palm Springs, which saw more than 3 inches of rain by Sunday evening.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Forecasters warned of dangerous flash floods across Los Angeles and Ventura counties, and fire officials rescued 13 people from knee-deep water in a homeless encampment along the rising San Diego River. Meanwhile, rain and debris washed out some roadways and people left their cars stranded in standing water. Crews pumped floodwaters out of the emergency room at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/NWSSanDiego/status/1693562308709261731\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sunday was the wettest day on record in San Diego, with 1.82 inches, the NWS said in a post on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter. The previous record was on Aug. 17, 1977, when 1.8 inches of rain fell in the area following Hurricane Doreen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We basically blew all of our previous rainfall records out of the water,” Elizabeth Adams, a National Weather Service meteorologist in San Diego, told The Associated Press. In Palm Springs, the inundation on Sunday — of 3.18 inches — shattered the daily record of 0.21 inches set in 2003.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The center of Hilary passed over downtown Los Angeles at 7 p.m. Sunday, according to the regional weather office, which called it “a day for the ages” in Southern California.[aside label='Stay Prepared With KQED Guides' tag='audience-news']Despite the deluge, Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said no significant injuries or damages were reported.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Los Angeles City Council President Paul Krekorian told a news conference that the city “was tested but we came through it, and we came through it with minimal impacts considering what we endured.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation’s second largest school system, said all campuses were closed Monday. San Diego schools postponed the first day of classes of the school year from Monday to Tuesday. For LAUSD students, grab-and-go sites were set up to provide meals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Palm Springs Police Department said in a statement Sunday that 911 lines were down and that in the event of an emergency, residents should text 911 or reach out to the nearest police or fire station.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A tropical storm last roared into California in September 1939, ripping apart train tracks, tearing houses from their foundations and capsizing many boats. Nearly 100 people were killed on land and at sea.[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"LA City Council President Paul Krekorian\"]‘Los Angeles was tested but we came through it, and we came through it with minimal impacts considering what we endured.’[/pullquote]As skies were clearing Monday in the state, the National Weather Service warned of flooding underway in the Mount Charleston area of Clark County, Nevada, about 40 miles west of Las Vegas. Forecasters said the threat for flooding in states farther north on Monday was highest across much of southeastern Oregon into the west-central mountains of Idaho.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the Caribbean, meanwhile, Tropical Storm Franklin churned on Monday near Haiti and the Dominican Republic, where authorities warned residents to prepare for floods and landslides.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center are also watching weather developments in the Gulf of Mexico that now has an 80% chance of developing into a tropical disturbance or tropical storm before reaching the western Gulf coastline on Tuesday. Forecasters urged people along the coast in northern Mexico and Texas to monitor the system, adding that tropical storm watches or warnings may be issued later Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Experts warn that strong rains from Tropical Storm Hilary will continue across the southwestern U.S., including Nevada, with potential flooding as far north as Oregon and Idaho.",
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"title": "Hurricane Hilary, Now Post-Tropical Storm, Leaves Southern California Drenched | KQED",
"description": "Experts warn that strong rains from Tropical Storm Hilary will continue across the southwestern U.S., including Nevada, with potential flooding as far north as Oregon and Idaho.",
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"headline": "Hurricane Hilary, Now Post-Tropical Storm, Leaves Southern California Drenched",
"datePublished": "2023-08-21T12:20:08-07:00",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Tropical Storm Hilary \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11958562/hurricane-hilary-hits-what-california-and-the-bay-area-can-expect\">drenched Southern California on Sunday from the coast to the desert resort city of Palm Springs\u003c/a>, forcing rescuers to pull several people from swollen rivers, before heading east and flooding a county about 40 miles outside of Las Vegas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The National Hurricane Center in Miami downgraded Hilary to a post-tropical storm Monday morning, but warned that “continued life-threatening and locally catastrophic flooding” was expected over portions of the southwestern United States, along with “record breaking” rainfall and potential flooding as far north as Oregon and Idaho.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Remnants of the storm that first brought soaking rains to Mexico’s arid Baja California peninsula and the border city of Tijuana were expected to linger at least through Tuesday morning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11958713\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11958713\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1614147590-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A large freeway cuts through the desert landscape. However, parts of this road are completely blocked off by large quantities of water that remain after heavy rains.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1708\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1614147590-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1614147590-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1614147590-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1614147590-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1614147590-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1614147590-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1614147590-1920x1281.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An aerial image shows no traffic on Interstate 10 due to flooding and mud crossing the highway following heavy rains from Tropical Storm Hilary, in Rancho Mirage, California, on Aug. 21, 2023. \u003ccite>(David Swanson/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2023/08/19/governor-newsom-proclaims-state-of-emergency-as-hurricane-hilary-approaches-california/\">declared a state of emergency on Saturday for much of Southern California\u003c/a>, a typically dry area, but where residents on Sunday had to battle flooded roads, mudslides and downed trees. Winding roads in the San Bernardino Mountains east of Los Angeles were blocked by mud and debris flows. A stretch of the Interstate 10 freeway near Palm Springs was also shut to traffic due to pooling water from the storm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Along the coast, a stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway in surf-friendly Huntington Beach was also flooded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Thank God my family is OK,” Maura Taura said after a three-story-tall tree crashed down on her daughter’s two cars but missed the family’s house in the Sun Valley area of Los Angeles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11958711\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11958711\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1629829257-scaled.jpg\" alt='Several large trees have fallen over in a residential area. One tree has yellow tape that reads \"Caution\" wrapped around it.' width=\"2560\" height=\"1699\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1629829257-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1629829257-800x531.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1629829257-1020x677.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1629829257-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1629829257-1536x1019.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1629829257-2048x1359.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1629829257-1920x1274.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A view of a tree that fell onto a house on Aug. 21, 2023 in Sierra Madre, California. \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Hilary is just the latest major weather or climate disaster to wreak havoc across the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Hawaii’s island of Maui is still reeling from a blaze that killed more than 100 people and ravaged the historic town of Lahaina, making it the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century. Firefighters in Canada are battling that nation’s worst fire season on record.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first tropical storm to hit Southern California in 84 years, Hilary first made landfall in Baja California on Sunday in a sparsely populated area about 150 miles south of Ensenada. One person drowned. It then moved through mudslide-prone Tijuana, threatening the improvised homes that cling to hillsides just south of the U.S. border.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hilary dropped more than half an average year’s worth of rain on some areas, including Palm Springs, which saw more than 3 inches of rain by Sunday evening.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Forecasters warned of dangerous flash floods across Los Angeles and Ventura counties, and fire officials rescued 13 people from knee-deep water in a homeless encampment along the rising San Diego River. Meanwhile, rain and debris washed out some roadways and people left their cars stranded in standing water. Crews pumped floodwaters out of the emergency room at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>Sunday was the wettest day on record in San Diego, with 1.82 inches, the NWS said in a post on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter. The previous record was on Aug. 17, 1977, when 1.8 inches of rain fell in the area following Hurricane Doreen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We basically blew all of our previous rainfall records out of the water,” Elizabeth Adams, a National Weather Service meteorologist in San Diego, told The Associated Press. In Palm Springs, the inundation on Sunday — of 3.18 inches — shattered the daily record of 0.21 inches set in 2003.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The center of Hilary passed over downtown Los Angeles at 7 p.m. Sunday, according to the regional weather office, which called it “a day for the ages” in Southern California.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Despite the deluge, Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said no significant injuries or damages were reported.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Los Angeles City Council President Paul Krekorian told a news conference that the city “was tested but we came through it, and we came through it with minimal impacts considering what we endured.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation’s second largest school system, said all campuses were closed Monday. San Diego schools postponed the first day of classes of the school year from Monday to Tuesday. For LAUSD students, grab-and-go sites were set up to provide meals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Palm Springs Police Department said in a statement Sunday that 911 lines were down and that in the event of an emergency, residents should text 911 or reach out to the nearest police or fire station.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A tropical storm last roared into California in September 1939, ripping apart train tracks, tearing houses from their foundations and capsizing many boats. Nearly 100 people were killed on land and at sea.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>As skies were clearing Monday in the state, the National Weather Service warned of flooding underway in the Mount Charleston area of Clark County, Nevada, about 40 miles west of Las Vegas. Forecasters said the threat for flooding in states farther north on Monday was highest across much of southeastern Oregon into the west-central mountains of Idaho.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the Caribbean, meanwhile, Tropical Storm Franklin churned on Monday near Haiti and the Dominican Republic, where authorities warned residents to prepare for floods and landslides.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center are also watching weather developments in the Gulf of Mexico that now has an 80% chance of developing into a tropical disturbance or tropical storm before reaching the western Gulf coastline on Tuesday. Forecasters urged people along the coast in northern Mexico and Texas to monitor the system, adding that tropical storm watches or warnings may be issued later Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Months After Storms, Undocumented Workers Who Lost Homes Still Await Disaster Relief Aid",
"headTitle": "Months After Storms, Undocumented Workers Who Lost Homes Still Await Disaster Relief Aid | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Undocumented Californians affected by winter storms and floods are slowly starting to receive money from a special relief program the state launched for them two months ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In June, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office announced it plans to \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/california-divide/2023/05/california-flooding-fund/\">spend $95 million\u003c/a> from the state’s Rapid Response Fund to help thousands of flood victims recover from storm damage and financial setbacks. The beneficiaries would be immigrants who don’t qualify for federal emergency assistance or state unemployment insurance because they are undocumented.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 20 nonprofits have contracts with the Department of Social Services to distribute the money. So far they have begun handing out nearly $18 million to about 12,000 residents — but it’s at an uneven pace.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Efrén Pérez, political science professor, UCLA\"]‘I think if I’m an agency that has money to hand out and I really want to … provide a public service, I think I would be trying to make something like this a little bit more streamlined.’[/pullquote]About 4,000 residents in San Joaquin County are expected to receive a total of about $6 million, according to Aug. 6 data from the state. Fewer people have received aid in other big counties. For instance, only a few hundred thousand dollars went to 415 households in Kern and San Mateo counties so far.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some residents in smaller qualifying counties have not received any funds yet, as their counties qualified for disaster assistance later. The money will be available through May 31, 2024, or until the money runs out. Subtracting administrative expenses, nearly a quarter of the available aid has been distributed so far.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although most recipients are undocumented people, who likely speak Spanish or an Indigenous language, some of the state’s information about the Storm Assistance for Immigrants program is in English and has not been translated into Spanish or any other languages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.datawrapper.de/_/NZ4oe/\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Efrén Pérez, a political science professor at UCLA, said he’s puzzled that the state is not doing more aggressive canvassing and outreach, especially in Spanish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think the most important question is why can’t we make this relatively easier?” Pérez said. “What are the barriers that make this the best that we can do? I think if I’m an agency that has money to hand out and I really want to … provide a public service, I think I would be trying to make something like this a little bit more streamlined.”[aside postID=\"news_11955359,news_11946661,news_11952059\" label=\"Related Stories\"]Pérez also questioned the state’s reliance on independent organizations to do outreach, saying it could result in varying results across counties and target populations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s good when you can partner with organizations,” Pérez said. “The challenge is when you decentralize it in that way, you basically are increasing the chances that there is no standardized approach across these organizations to get delivery of that info.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scott Murray, a spokesperson for the California Department of Social Services, said the nonprofit organizations are responsible for conducting outreach. He added that a Spanish version of a “Frequently Asked Questions” document has been provided to the nonprofits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s important to remember that the undocumented community can be fearful of accessing benefits and assistance through Government entities,” Murray told CalMatters in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Therefore, as trusted community messengers, the nonprofit organizations are conducting outreach to the undocumented community through their existing networks and through the local amplification of the existence of these recovery supports to eligible undocumented Californians.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Who qualifies for storm damage aid?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The state’s Immigrant Storm Assistance Program, is only for undocumented residents living or working in the 25 counties that qualified for “direct assistance” from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Qualifying families can receive up to $4,500 in state aid, depending on the number of qualifying adults and children in their household, while individuals can qualify for $1,500. The nonprofits contracting with the state interview applicants in person and provide them with preloaded debit cards or checks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many Californians harmed by the floods were working as farmworkers in rural or coastal communities. Not only did many lose weeks of work during the months of rain and floods, but others also lost their homes, vehicles and other property. One UC Merced study of Planada’s residents found nearly $20 million in damages to the Central Valley town of 4,000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11958330\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/031223_Cutler_Flood_LV_CM_21.jpg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11958330\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/031223_Cutler_Flood_LV_CM_21-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A flooded residential street with cars slightly submerged in water.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/031223_Cutler_Flood_LV_CM_21-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/031223_Cutler_Flood_LV_CM_21-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/031223_Cutler_Flood_LV_CM_21-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/031223_Cutler_Flood_LV_CM_21-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/031223_Cutler_Flood_LV_CM_21-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/031223_Cutler_Flood_LV_CM_21.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A flooded neighborhood in Orosi on March 12, 2023. \u003ccite>(Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>About 88% of California’s farmworkers speak Spanish at home and almost 8% speak an Indigenous language rather than Spanish at home, according to data from the UC Merced Community and Labor Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like most California state agency websites, the social services landing page for the storm assistance program has a Google Translate tool in the upper right corner that can translate the webpage into more than 100 languages, including Spanish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However the department has not posted translated versions of some key program documents linked on the webpage, including the list of service providers and the contact people, email addresses and phone numbers of the nonprofit organizations distributing the immigrant disaster aid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The website launched in June, but its main page says “Translated versions will be posted soon.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also the Google Translate tool embedded on the state’s website cannot translate PDFs linked to that page. Some information on those PDFs — such as the main state hotline number and the community organizations assigned to each eligible county — is included on another page that can be translated, however.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11958331\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/031223-Cutler-Flood-LV_03-1.jpg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11958331\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/031223-Cutler-Flood-LV_03-1-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Two men are seen in the front yard of a house. The man to left is wearing a black tshirt, cap, and rain boots shoveling mud while the man on the right in a grey undershirt holds a shovel.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/031223-Cutler-Flood-LV_03-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/031223-Cutler-Flood-LV_03-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/031223-Cutler-Flood-LV_03-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/031223-Cutler-Flood-LV_03-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/031223-Cutler-Flood-LV_03-1-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/031223-Cutler-Flood-LV_03-1.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Two Cutler residents shovel mud out of their driveway in Cutler on March 12, 2023. The area was recently flooded after the levee in the area was breached during a series of storms hit the Central Valley. \u003ccite>(Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This isn’t the first time the state provided information only in English about a program to help residents who likely speak or read a different language.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2020 advocates threatened to sue the Department of Social Services because of gaps in the Employment Development Department’s language accommodations for unemployment insurance. After the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles \u003ca href=\"https://lafla.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/LAFLA-DFEH-Complaint-Against-EDD.pdf\">filed a complaint (PDF)\u003c/a> alleging the state was violating federal and state anti-discrimination mandates, the employment department in 2022 \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11906764/edd-finally-adds-more-multilingual-unemployment-support-after-advocates-mount-legal-challenge\">announced plans\u003c/a> to expand its language support for the more than 7 million Californians who speak languages other than English.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>California nonprofits help hard-to-reach communities\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Jose Rodriguez, CEO of the Stockton-based nonprofit El Concilio, said his staff raised concerns about the lack of Spanish translations on the storm assistance website with state officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But El Concilio didn’t struggle with outreach, Rodriguez said, because it relies on deep community roots from providing such services as immigration legal assistance and HeadStart to migrant families throughout the county. It also had recently distributed COVID-19 relief and rental assistance funds, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The vast majority of the more than $6 million in aid heading to San Joaquin County is going through El Concilio. More than 2,000 residents — most of whom lost wages due to storms and flooding — have received funds, and another 2,000 are on a waitlist to receive funds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Binational Center for the Development of Oaxacan Indigenous Communities, a nonprofit in the Central Valley, has distributed more than $1.3 million to nearly 1,000 applicants from Indigenous Mexican communities who live in Madera and Fresno counties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Its executive director, Sarait Martinez, said the lack of translated materials on the state’s program website might not matter, because few members of the communities her organization serves visit the state’s website for assistance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The reality is that if we don’t do this work, then our community does not get the support,” Martinez said. “It is definitely helping folks. Work started late this season. People needed the funds.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rodriguez said he hopes to request more money from the state in the future – if there is enough funds. He said he was unsure why the state allocated just $95 million for the program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The need is greater,” Rodriguez said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People applying for the Storm Assistance for Immigrants program can call 866-724-2023 or contact one of the providers assigned to their county \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdss.ca.gov/Portals/9/Immigration/CPR/SAI%20Contractor%20List_6_19_23_FINAL_ADA.pdf?ver=2023-06-19-180916-623\">on this list (PDF)\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.datawrapper.de/_/GfF9w/\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Gov. Gavin Newsom promised $95 million would help undocumented workers rebuild after winter storms and floods. Months later, $18 million is being doled out and there are translation issues with the state’s website.",
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"title": "Months After Storms, Undocumented Workers Who Lost Homes Still Await Disaster Relief Aid | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Undocumented Californians affected by winter storms and floods are slowly starting to receive money from a special relief program the state launched for them two months ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In June, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office announced it plans to \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/california-divide/2023/05/california-flooding-fund/\">spend $95 million\u003c/a> from the state’s Rapid Response Fund to help thousands of flood victims recover from storm damage and financial setbacks. The beneficiaries would be immigrants who don’t qualify for federal emergency assistance or state unemployment insurance because they are undocumented.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 20 nonprofits have contracts with the Department of Social Services to distribute the money. So far they have begun handing out nearly $18 million to about 12,000 residents — but it’s at an uneven pace.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘I think if I’m an agency that has money to hand out and I really want to … provide a public service, I think I would be trying to make something like this a little bit more streamlined.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>About 4,000 residents in San Joaquin County are expected to receive a total of about $6 million, according to Aug. 6 data from the state. Fewer people have received aid in other big counties. For instance, only a few hundred thousand dollars went to 415 households in Kern and San Mateo counties so far.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some residents in smaller qualifying counties have not received any funds yet, as their counties qualified for disaster assistance later. The money will be available through May 31, 2024, or until the money runs out. Subtracting administrative expenses, nearly a quarter of the available aid has been distributed so far.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although most recipients are undocumented people, who likely speak Spanish or an Indigenous language, some of the state’s information about the Storm Assistance for Immigrants program is in English and has not been translated into Spanish or any other languages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.datawrapper.de/_/NZ4oe/\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Efrén Pérez, a political science professor at UCLA, said he’s puzzled that the state is not doing more aggressive canvassing and outreach, especially in Spanish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think the most important question is why can’t we make this relatively easier?” Pérez said. “What are the barriers that make this the best that we can do? I think if I’m an agency that has money to hand out and I really want to … provide a public service, I think I would be trying to make something like this a little bit more streamlined.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Pérez also questioned the state’s reliance on independent organizations to do outreach, saying it could result in varying results across counties and target populations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s good when you can partner with organizations,” Pérez said. “The challenge is when you decentralize it in that way, you basically are increasing the chances that there is no standardized approach across these organizations to get delivery of that info.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scott Murray, a spokesperson for the California Department of Social Services, said the nonprofit organizations are responsible for conducting outreach. He added that a Spanish version of a “Frequently Asked Questions” document has been provided to the nonprofits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s important to remember that the undocumented community can be fearful of accessing benefits and assistance through Government entities,” Murray told CalMatters in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Therefore, as trusted community messengers, the nonprofit organizations are conducting outreach to the undocumented community through their existing networks and through the local amplification of the existence of these recovery supports to eligible undocumented Californians.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Who qualifies for storm damage aid?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The state’s Immigrant Storm Assistance Program, is only for undocumented residents living or working in the 25 counties that qualified for “direct assistance” from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Qualifying families can receive up to $4,500 in state aid, depending on the number of qualifying adults and children in their household, while individuals can qualify for $1,500. The nonprofits contracting with the state interview applicants in person and provide them with preloaded debit cards or checks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many Californians harmed by the floods were working as farmworkers in rural or coastal communities. Not only did many lose weeks of work during the months of rain and floods, but others also lost their homes, vehicles and other property. One UC Merced study of Planada’s residents found nearly $20 million in damages to the Central Valley town of 4,000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11958330\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/031223_Cutler_Flood_LV_CM_21.jpg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11958330\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/031223_Cutler_Flood_LV_CM_21-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A flooded residential street with cars slightly submerged in water.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/031223_Cutler_Flood_LV_CM_21-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/031223_Cutler_Flood_LV_CM_21-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/031223_Cutler_Flood_LV_CM_21-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/031223_Cutler_Flood_LV_CM_21-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/031223_Cutler_Flood_LV_CM_21-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/031223_Cutler_Flood_LV_CM_21.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A flooded neighborhood in Orosi on March 12, 2023. \u003ccite>(Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>About 88% of California’s farmworkers speak Spanish at home and almost 8% speak an Indigenous language rather than Spanish at home, according to data from the UC Merced Community and Labor Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like most California state agency websites, the social services landing page for the storm assistance program has a Google Translate tool in the upper right corner that can translate the webpage into more than 100 languages, including Spanish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However the department has not posted translated versions of some key program documents linked on the webpage, including the list of service providers and the contact people, email addresses and phone numbers of the nonprofit organizations distributing the immigrant disaster aid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The website launched in June, but its main page says “Translated versions will be posted soon.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also the Google Translate tool embedded on the state’s website cannot translate PDFs linked to that page. Some information on those PDFs — such as the main state hotline number and the community organizations assigned to each eligible county — is included on another page that can be translated, however.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11958331\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/031223-Cutler-Flood-LV_03-1.jpg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11958331\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/031223-Cutler-Flood-LV_03-1-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Two men are seen in the front yard of a house. The man to left is wearing a black tshirt, cap, and rain boots shoveling mud while the man on the right in a grey undershirt holds a shovel.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/031223-Cutler-Flood-LV_03-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/031223-Cutler-Flood-LV_03-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/031223-Cutler-Flood-LV_03-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/031223-Cutler-Flood-LV_03-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/031223-Cutler-Flood-LV_03-1-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/031223-Cutler-Flood-LV_03-1.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Two Cutler residents shovel mud out of their driveway in Cutler on March 12, 2023. The area was recently flooded after the levee in the area was breached during a series of storms hit the Central Valley. \u003ccite>(Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This isn’t the first time the state provided information only in English about a program to help residents who likely speak or read a different language.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2020 advocates threatened to sue the Department of Social Services because of gaps in the Employment Development Department’s language accommodations for unemployment insurance. After the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles \u003ca href=\"https://lafla.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/LAFLA-DFEH-Complaint-Against-EDD.pdf\">filed a complaint (PDF)\u003c/a> alleging the state was violating federal and state anti-discrimination mandates, the employment department in 2022 \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11906764/edd-finally-adds-more-multilingual-unemployment-support-after-advocates-mount-legal-challenge\">announced plans\u003c/a> to expand its language support for the more than 7 million Californians who speak languages other than English.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>California nonprofits help hard-to-reach communities\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Jose Rodriguez, CEO of the Stockton-based nonprofit El Concilio, said his staff raised concerns about the lack of Spanish translations on the storm assistance website with state officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But El Concilio didn’t struggle with outreach, Rodriguez said, because it relies on deep community roots from providing such services as immigration legal assistance and HeadStart to migrant families throughout the county. It also had recently distributed COVID-19 relief and rental assistance funds, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The vast majority of the more than $6 million in aid heading to San Joaquin County is going through El Concilio. More than 2,000 residents — most of whom lost wages due to storms and flooding — have received funds, and another 2,000 are on a waitlist to receive funds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Binational Center for the Development of Oaxacan Indigenous Communities, a nonprofit in the Central Valley, has distributed more than $1.3 million to nearly 1,000 applicants from Indigenous Mexican communities who live in Madera and Fresno counties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Its executive director, Sarait Martinez, said the lack of translated materials on the state’s program website might not matter, because few members of the communities her organization serves visit the state’s website for assistance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The reality is that if we don’t do this work, then our community does not get the support,” Martinez said. “It is definitely helping folks. Work started late this season. People needed the funds.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rodriguez said he hopes to request more money from the state in the future – if there is enough funds. He said he was unsure why the state allocated just $95 million for the program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The need is greater,” Rodriguez said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People applying for the Storm Assistance for Immigrants program can call 866-724-2023 or contact one of the providers assigned to their county \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdss.ca.gov/Portals/9/Immigration/CPR/SAI%20Contractor%20List_6_19_23_FINAL_ADA.pdf?ver=2023-06-19-180916-623\">on this list (PDF)\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.datawrapper.de/_/GfF9w/\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "how-californias-rising-insurance-premiums-threaten-affordable-housing",
"title": "How California’s Rising Insurance Premiums Threaten Affordable Housing",
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"content": "\u003cp>When Sarah Letts went to renew the property insurance for her organization’s 32 apartment buildings last year, she got a sticker shock: a 33% increase.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year? Her carrier, Great American Insurance Group, dropped the policy entirely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Letts said she might have understood if the nonprofit she helms, Hollywood Community Housing Corporation, was based in a forested area, but the affordable housing properties are all on urban infill sites within Los Angeles County and have been upgraded with sprinklers and seismic reinforcements where needed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are not abutting a fire hazard,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, with less than a month to go before the current policy runs out, she’s scrambling. “We will get [property insurance] because we’re obligated to get it,” Letts said. “But the frightening part is, how much will we pay?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Across the state, affordable housing providers report massive increases in insurance premiums — often regardless of where their buildings are located. And for nonprofits in rural areas with a more pronounced wildfire risk, it’s an “existential” crisis, according to Seana O’Shaughnessy, the president and CEO of Community Housing Improvement Program, which manages nearly 3,000 homes and apartments across seven counties in Northern California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said the state’s volatile insurance market calls into question the state’s ability to meet \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11930679/newsom-campaigned-on-building-3-5-million-homes-he-hasnt-gotten-even-close\">Gov. Gavin Newsom’s ambitious goal of building 2.5 million new homes by 2031\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Without a stable insurance market, we aren’t able to build and meet the affordable housing needs of our state, and we aren’t able to operate effectively,” O’Shaughnessy said. “So this cannot be overstated, how important figuring out and fixing and stabilizing insurance is for our industry.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom’s office declined to comment for this story, deferring instead to the California Department of Insurance, which has recently held hearings to address rising premiums, as well as carriers leaving California, an issue that’s impacting all property owners. [pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Seana O’Shaughnessy, president and CEO, Community Housing Improvement Program\"]‘Without a stable insurance market, we aren’t able to build and meet the affordable housing needs of our state, and we aren’t able to operate effectively.’[/pullquote] Affordable housing providers, however, say they are at a particular disadvantage. Unlike for-profit apartment owners, who can raise rents to offset increased costs, the very nature of affordable housing means rents are restricted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our margins in the affordable housing industry are very thin,” O’Shaughnessy said. “So, that means the nonprofit has to subsidize [increased costs].”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Industry groups that track the number of carriers and spending on premiums don’t separate affordable housing from other forms of commercial property. That means apartment buildings are lumped into the same category as gas stations and grocery stores. But according to the analytics firm CoreLogic, commercial property insurance premiums increased 45% since 2018, though the increases were not uniform across sectors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Letts said she is girding for a 100% increase in premiums when she eventually does find a carrier, if not a 150% increase. Such an increase would raise the annual cost of insuring her organization’s properties from $500,000 to somewhere between $1 million to $1.5 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the Community Housing Improvement Program’s 17 apartment buildings, property insurance premiums have more than tripled since 2017, according to the organization.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the Bay Area, nonprofit Burbank Housing’s Director of Asset Management, Julie Heredia, said premiums doubled since 2018 across its portfolio of more than 70 properties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And in Northern California, Ryan LaRue, the executive director of Rural Communities Housing Development Corporation, said property insurance premiums for its portfolio of 33 properties doubled between 2021 and 2022 alone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a disaster,” LaRue said. “It’s a lose-lose for anyone in our part of the industry.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Rising premiums\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Driving the premium increases are inflation, rising interest rates and the ballooning cost of reinsurance, the insurance that carriers get to cover their losses, said Sheri Scott, a principal and consulting actuary at Milliman, an actuarial firm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unlike in other states, California doesn’t allow insurance companies to include the cost of reinsurance in determining its fire insurance rates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11957163\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11957163\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS67574_230728-WildfireSantaRosaHousing-37-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A new condo building is seen through the overgrown grasses of the lot across the street.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS67574_230728-WildfireSantaRosaHousing-37-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS67574_230728-WildfireSantaRosaHousing-37-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS67574_230728-WildfireSantaRosaHousing-37-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS67574_230728-WildfireSantaRosaHousing-37-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS67574_230728-WildfireSantaRosaHousing-37-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS67574_230728-WildfireSantaRosaHousing-37-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Laurel at Perennial Park, an affordable apartment complex for seniors, can be seen behind flowers from Journey’s End mobile home park in Santa Rosa on July 28, 2023, which burned almost entirely during the Tubbs Fire in October 2017. Across the state, affordable housing providers report massive increases in insurance premiums — often regardless of where their buildings are located. And for nonprofits in rural areas with a more pronounced wildfire risk, it’s an ‘existential’ crisis. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“And if insurance companies aren’t able to include that cost of doing business in their insurance rates, that could create an issue where insurance companies don’t feel they’re able to get the appropriate rate for the risk,” Scott said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Great American Insurance Group, the carrier that declined to continue providing coverage to Hollywood Community Housing Group, did not respond to requests for comment about its decision to discontinue the nonprofit’s policy. In the single-family home market, large carriers, including Allstate, State Farm, Farmers and AIG, cited economic conditions and the increasing frequency and severity of weather events such as floods and wildfires as reasons for declining to sell new policies in the state. [pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Ryan LaRue, executive director, Rural Communities Housing Development Corporation\"]‘It’s a disaster. It’s a lose-lose for anyone in our part of the industry.’[/pullquote] According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, since 1980 there has been an average of 8.1 weather events nationally that amounted to $1 billion or more in damage. Over the past five years, the average was 18. And, as of July 11 this year, 12 events cost $1 billion or more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are seeing a higher frequency of events and a higher severity of these events when they occur than we ever historically have had,” said Justin Dove, a broker specializing in real estate with Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., a risk management services firm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Seven of California’s 10 most destructive wildfires occurred within the past decade, according to Cal Fire. But, insurance carriers in the state are barred from using catastrophe models to estimate their expected future losses to develop insurance rates. Instead, they must look at the previous 20 years of losses, a practice other states have long abandoned, Scott said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are no other states that use that methodology anymore,” she said. “They have since modernized their procedures in what insurance companies use so that they can use catastrophe models.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Deputy Insurance Commissioner Tony Cignarale said the Department of Insurance is currently looking at allowing insurers to use catastrophe modeling, as well as to include the cost of reinsurance in setting rates. Allowing the latter change might improve the availability of insurance, but not necessarily affordability.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11957164\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11957164\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS67584_230728-WildfireSantaRosaHousing-55-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A large empty lot with overgrown grasses surrounded by houses.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS67584_230728-WildfireSantaRosaHousing-55-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS67584_230728-WildfireSantaRosaHousing-55-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS67584_230728-WildfireSantaRosaHousing-55-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS67584_230728-WildfireSantaRosaHousing-55-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS67584_230728-WildfireSantaRosaHousing-55-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS67584_230728-WildfireSantaRosaHousing-55-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An empty plot of land in Coffey Park in Santa Rosa on July 28, 2023. Seven of California’s 10 most destructive wildfires occurred within the past 10 years, according to Cal Fire. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“With reinsurance, it is an additional cost. So, in theory [premiums] would rise,” Cignarale said. “The question is, how much would be allowable to add on to an individual policyholder’s premium? That’s another area that the [insurance] commissioner is looking at to ensure that it’s not excessive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And while insurance groups say allowing catastrophe modeling won’t necessarily raise rates — it may lower rates for some property owners — Cignarale said more information is needed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re going to take a deeper dive into these catastrophe models and see, are there good models? Are there bad models? Is there a way to make sure that there’s transparency, so that the public, as well as the insurance commissioner, can see what’s under the hood and make sure that there aren’t any negative algorithms there that may be unfair to policyholders just for the sake of increasing rates and premiums?” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s no timeline for when the Department of Insurance will finalize or implement any proposed changes, Cignarale said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the meantime, the department in March announced the FAIR Plan — California’s insurance coverage of last resort. The plan is available to property owners who can’t secure fire insurance, though it doesn’t cover other hazards, such as floods or general liability — and it would raise its coverage cap to $20 million for commercial property owners. The FAIR Plan is expected to begin offering the new coverage by the end of the year. [aside label='More on Affordable Housing' tag='affordable-housing'] In October of 2022, Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara began enforcing new regulations requiring insurance carriers to provide discounts to property owners who mitigate their own risk of wildfires. The companies are now in the process of getting those proposed discounts approved by the department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s really the goal,” Cignarale said. “If you can reduce the risk, then you can reduce the insurance companies’ need to either restrict writing or increase premiums on consumers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But even with all these changes, it isn’t clear whether it would translate into lower premiums for property owners, or if the changing climate and increasing risk from wildfires and other extreme weather will discourage carriers from returning to the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, affordable housing providers say they aren’t going out of business — at least not yet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We always figure it out, but I don’t know that we should have to figure it out,” O’Shaughnessy said. “This is something that the state has to help figure out so that we can continue to provide essential housing for folks. We’ll do it as long as we have to, but we do need help.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "California's rising insurance premiums and fleeing carriers are affecting the state’s affordable housing developers and its goal to build 2.5 million homes by 2031.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>When Sarah Letts went to renew the property insurance for her organization’s 32 apartment buildings last year, she got a sticker shock: a 33% increase.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year? Her carrier, Great American Insurance Group, dropped the policy entirely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Letts said she might have understood if the nonprofit she helms, Hollywood Community Housing Corporation, was based in a forested area, but the affordable housing properties are all on urban infill sites within Los Angeles County and have been upgraded with sprinklers and seismic reinforcements where needed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are not abutting a fire hazard,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, with less than a month to go before the current policy runs out, she’s scrambling. “We will get [property insurance] because we’re obligated to get it,” Letts said. “But the frightening part is, how much will we pay?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Across the state, affordable housing providers report massive increases in insurance premiums — often regardless of where their buildings are located. And for nonprofits in rural areas with a more pronounced wildfire risk, it’s an “existential” crisis, according to Seana O’Shaughnessy, the president and CEO of Community Housing Improvement Program, which manages nearly 3,000 homes and apartments across seven counties in Northern California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said the state’s volatile insurance market calls into question the state’s ability to meet \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11930679/newsom-campaigned-on-building-3-5-million-homes-he-hasnt-gotten-even-close\">Gov. Gavin Newsom’s ambitious goal of building 2.5 million new homes by 2031\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Without a stable insurance market, we aren’t able to build and meet the affordable housing needs of our state, and we aren’t able to operate effectively,” O’Shaughnessy said. “So this cannot be overstated, how important figuring out and fixing and stabilizing insurance is for our industry.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom’s office declined to comment for this story, deferring instead to the California Department of Insurance, which has recently held hearings to address rising premiums, as well as carriers leaving California, an issue that’s impacting all property owners. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp> Affordable housing providers, however, say they are at a particular disadvantage. Unlike for-profit apartment owners, who can raise rents to offset increased costs, the very nature of affordable housing means rents are restricted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our margins in the affordable housing industry are very thin,” O’Shaughnessy said. “So, that means the nonprofit has to subsidize [increased costs].”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Industry groups that track the number of carriers and spending on premiums don’t separate affordable housing from other forms of commercial property. That means apartment buildings are lumped into the same category as gas stations and grocery stores. But according to the analytics firm CoreLogic, commercial property insurance premiums increased 45% since 2018, though the increases were not uniform across sectors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Letts said she is girding for a 100% increase in premiums when she eventually does find a carrier, if not a 150% increase. Such an increase would raise the annual cost of insuring her organization’s properties from $500,000 to somewhere between $1 million to $1.5 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the Community Housing Improvement Program’s 17 apartment buildings, property insurance premiums have more than tripled since 2017, according to the organization.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the Bay Area, nonprofit Burbank Housing’s Director of Asset Management, Julie Heredia, said premiums doubled since 2018 across its portfolio of more than 70 properties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And in Northern California, Ryan LaRue, the executive director of Rural Communities Housing Development Corporation, said property insurance premiums for its portfolio of 33 properties doubled between 2021 and 2022 alone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a disaster,” LaRue said. “It’s a lose-lose for anyone in our part of the industry.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Rising premiums\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Driving the premium increases are inflation, rising interest rates and the ballooning cost of reinsurance, the insurance that carriers get to cover their losses, said Sheri Scott, a principal and consulting actuary at Milliman, an actuarial firm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unlike in other states, California doesn’t allow insurance companies to include the cost of reinsurance in determining its fire insurance rates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11957163\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11957163\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS67574_230728-WildfireSantaRosaHousing-37-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A new condo building is seen through the overgrown grasses of the lot across the street.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS67574_230728-WildfireSantaRosaHousing-37-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS67574_230728-WildfireSantaRosaHousing-37-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS67574_230728-WildfireSantaRosaHousing-37-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS67574_230728-WildfireSantaRosaHousing-37-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS67574_230728-WildfireSantaRosaHousing-37-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS67574_230728-WildfireSantaRosaHousing-37-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Laurel at Perennial Park, an affordable apartment complex for seniors, can be seen behind flowers from Journey’s End mobile home park in Santa Rosa on July 28, 2023, which burned almost entirely during the Tubbs Fire in October 2017. Across the state, affordable housing providers report massive increases in insurance premiums — often regardless of where their buildings are located. And for nonprofits in rural areas with a more pronounced wildfire risk, it’s an ‘existential’ crisis. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“And if insurance companies aren’t able to include that cost of doing business in their insurance rates, that could create an issue where insurance companies don’t feel they’re able to get the appropriate rate for the risk,” Scott said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Great American Insurance Group, the carrier that declined to continue providing coverage to Hollywood Community Housing Group, did not respond to requests for comment about its decision to discontinue the nonprofit’s policy. In the single-family home market, large carriers, including Allstate, State Farm, Farmers and AIG, cited economic conditions and the increasing frequency and severity of weather events such as floods and wildfires as reasons for declining to sell new policies in the state. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp> According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, since 1980 there has been an average of 8.1 weather events nationally that amounted to $1 billion or more in damage. Over the past five years, the average was 18. And, as of July 11 this year, 12 events cost $1 billion or more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are seeing a higher frequency of events and a higher severity of these events when they occur than we ever historically have had,” said Justin Dove, a broker specializing in real estate with Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., a risk management services firm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Seven of California’s 10 most destructive wildfires occurred within the past decade, according to Cal Fire. But, insurance carriers in the state are barred from using catastrophe models to estimate their expected future losses to develop insurance rates. Instead, they must look at the previous 20 years of losses, a practice other states have long abandoned, Scott said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are no other states that use that methodology anymore,” she said. “They have since modernized their procedures in what insurance companies use so that they can use catastrophe models.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Deputy Insurance Commissioner Tony Cignarale said the Department of Insurance is currently looking at allowing insurers to use catastrophe modeling, as well as to include the cost of reinsurance in setting rates. Allowing the latter change might improve the availability of insurance, but not necessarily affordability.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11957164\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11957164\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS67584_230728-WildfireSantaRosaHousing-55-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A large empty lot with overgrown grasses surrounded by houses.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS67584_230728-WildfireSantaRosaHousing-55-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS67584_230728-WildfireSantaRosaHousing-55-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS67584_230728-WildfireSantaRosaHousing-55-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS67584_230728-WildfireSantaRosaHousing-55-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS67584_230728-WildfireSantaRosaHousing-55-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS67584_230728-WildfireSantaRosaHousing-55-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An empty plot of land in Coffey Park in Santa Rosa on July 28, 2023. Seven of California’s 10 most destructive wildfires occurred within the past 10 years, according to Cal Fire. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“With reinsurance, it is an additional cost. So, in theory [premiums] would rise,” Cignarale said. “The question is, how much would be allowable to add on to an individual policyholder’s premium? That’s another area that the [insurance] commissioner is looking at to ensure that it’s not excessive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And while insurance groups say allowing catastrophe modeling won’t necessarily raise rates — it may lower rates for some property owners — Cignarale said more information is needed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re going to take a deeper dive into these catastrophe models and see, are there good models? Are there bad models? Is there a way to make sure that there’s transparency, so that the public, as well as the insurance commissioner, can see what’s under the hood and make sure that there aren’t any negative algorithms there that may be unfair to policyholders just for the sake of increasing rates and premiums?” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s no timeline for when the Department of Insurance will finalize or implement any proposed changes, Cignarale said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the meantime, the department in March announced the FAIR Plan — California’s insurance coverage of last resort. The plan is available to property owners who can’t secure fire insurance, though it doesn’t cover other hazards, such as floods or general liability — and it would raise its coverage cap to $20 million for commercial property owners. The FAIR Plan is expected to begin offering the new coverage by the end of the year. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp> In October of 2022, Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara began enforcing new regulations requiring insurance carriers to provide discounts to property owners who mitigate their own risk of wildfires. The companies are now in the process of getting those proposed discounts approved by the department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s really the goal,” Cignarale said. “If you can reduce the risk, then you can reduce the insurance companies’ need to either restrict writing or increase premiums on consumers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But even with all these changes, it isn’t clear whether it would translate into lower premiums for property owners, or if the changing climate and increasing risk from wildfires and other extreme weather will discourage carriers from returning to the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, affordable housing providers say they aren’t going out of business — at least not yet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We always figure it out, but I don’t know that we should have to figure it out,” O’Shaughnessy said. “This is something that the state has to help figure out so that we can continue to provide essential housing for folks. We’ll do it as long as we have to, but we do need help.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "californias-farmworkers-are-on-the-front-lines-of-climate-change",
"title": "California's Farmworkers Are on the Front Lines of Climate Change",
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"headTitle": "California’s Farmworkers Are on the Front Lines of Climate Change | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">José Federico Sierra remembers the summer when ash rained down like snow and clouds of wildfire smoke reddened the sky and choked his lungs. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That was three years ago, as the SCU Lightning Complex Fire raged across hundreds of thousands of acres just a few miles west of Gustine, the San Joaquin Valley town where Sierra works at a large dairy farm.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Antonia Sierra Martínez, community health worker, Valley Onward\"]‘How is it possible that we’re living through such a drastic increase in heat?’[/pullquote]Fires were bad the next year, too. And no matter what, Sierra said, his job keeps him outdoors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can’t change your work if you’re caring for livestock every day,” he said. “You just have to put on a mask and take care of yourself the best you can.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On a recent sunny day, Sierra was wrangling pregnant cows onto a livestock trailer to transport them to another part of the dairy, where they would give birth. But he hopped down from his pickup truck and greeted his sister Antonia Sierra Martínez, 45, a community health worker with a local nonprofit, Valley Onward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11953850\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66521_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-43-BL-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11953850\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66521_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-43-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Cows stand in rows of outdoor pens, some shaded and others in the sun.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66521_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-43-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66521_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-43-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66521_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-43-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66521_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-43-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66521_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-43-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66521_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-43-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cows stand in a barn in Gustine on June 21, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Though California has been spared major fires so far this year, Sierra Martínez and another community advocate were out surveying farmworkers for a state public health study about the effects of wildfire smoke. Her brother agreed to be interviewed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California’s Central Valley, climate change is making conditions increasingly dangerous for the state’s farmworkers, whose jobs keep them outdoors all day. Even as summer temperatures hit triple digits and the threat of wildfires is ever present, some rural communities are still recovering from last winter’s catastrophic floods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11953848\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66507_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-20-BL-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11953848 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66507_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-20-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Two women in black polo shirts smile together with a man and a teenager in front of a large white pick-up truck with a hitch attached to it.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66507_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-20-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66507_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-20-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66507_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-20-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66507_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-20-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66507_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-20-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66507_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-20-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Valley Onward employees Antonia Sierra Martínez (center) and Maria Alapizco (right) speak with José Federico Sierra (far right) at the farm where he works in Gustine while his son, Axel, 12, listens. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Yes, my asthma — my breathing — was most affected,” said Sierra, recalling the fire in 2020. “It felt like I was gasping for air inside a plastic bag.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How did you track whether the air quality was getting better or worse?” Sierra Martínez asked. “For example, did you listen to the radio or use an app?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My symptoms told me,” said her brother. “I felt better when the air was cleaner — and when it was harder to breathe, I knew the air was more polluted.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Rising temperatures, rising risks\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=\"news_11940316,news_11952059,news_11944295\" label=\"Related Posts\"]Sierra Martínez told me that she’d developed asthma, too, after moving to Gustine from Mexico to be with her farmworker husband.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even without wildfires, the San Joaquin Valley has \u003ca href=\"https://www.csustan.edu/sites/default/files/groups/Geography/Images/airpe.pdf\">some of the worst pollution in the nation (PDF)\u003c/a>. And as the weather heats up, the air quality gets worse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Climate change from carbon emissions is \u003ca href=\"https://www.energy.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2022-01/CA4_CCA_SJ_Region_Eng_ada.pdf\">making the valley hotter (PDF)\u003c/a>. In 2021, Fresno had a \u003ca href=\"https://www.fresnobee.com/fresnoland/article264860474.html\">record-breaking\u003c/a> 69 days where temperatures exceeded 100 degrees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How is it possible that we’re living through such a drastic increase in heat?” asked Sierra Martínez. “It’s sad, because here in the valley, most of our people work outside in the fields. They’re exposed to these temperatures from sunup to sundown.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11953844\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66492_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-01-BL-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11953844 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66492_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-01-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Two women walk down a sidewalk wearing black polo shirts and baseball caps in a residential neighborhood under bright sun.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66492_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-01-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66492_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-01-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66492_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-01-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66492_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-01-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66492_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-01-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66492_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-01-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Valley Onward employees Maria Alapizco (left) and Antonia Sierra Martínez walk to a home in Gustine to speak with a resident. They interview residents about working conditions and their health as it relates to pollution and toxins they are exposed to in their community and at work. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>California — unlike the federal government — does require employers to provide outdoor workers with \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/heatillnessinfo.html\">shade, water and rest breaks\u003c/a>. The state also has \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/wildfire/Worker-Protection-from-Wildfire-Smoke.html\">standards to protect workers from wildfire smoke\u003c/a>. But Sierra Martínez says some bosses are better than others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If your supervisor tells you to keep working when you know you need a break, don’t obey him. Just go! Get in the shade!” she tells field-workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California, \u003ca href=\"https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ETA/naws/pdfs/NAWS%20Research%20Report%2015.pdf\">90% of farmworkers are immigrants (PDF)\u003c/a>, most from Mexico. More than half are undocumented. Though most have worked in agriculture here for decades, their tenuous immigration status leaves many afraid to challenge their bosses, for fear they could be fired or deported, said Sierra Martínez.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Michael Méndez, a UC Irvine professor of environmental policy, has studied disaster response efforts and the marginalization of unauthorized immigrants, most of whom have no pathway to legal immigration status in the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No other population has experienced this great California climate displacement more than undocumented immigrants, farmworkers and migrant communities,” he said. “From drought that spiraled into extreme wildfire events, to heat waves … to this hydroclimatic whiplash, where we’ve gone from too much dryness to too much wetness, and individuals are being inundated from these extreme storms and failure in our infrastructure and our levees.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And, \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Méndez \u003c/span> says, that power imbalance is no accident. Political decisions have left many immigrants, especially unauthorized workers, out of the social safety net, even when they are growing the food that supports the state’s population. Undocumented immigrants don’t qualify for disaster assistance or most other forms of federal aid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These disparate, disproportionate impacts have been baked into our infrastructure, into our disaster policies that essentially have been withholding vital resources from these communities for decades, if not centuries,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Shut out from flood relief\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>On the east side of Merced County, those impacts played out dramatically last January when a levee on an irrigation canal ruptured in a storm, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11940221/undocumented-residents-in-planada-struggle-to-get-help-they-need-after-storms\">flooded hundreds of farmworker families\u003c/a> in the town of Planada. Residents say the canal was choked with trash and the levee had been neglected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One recent day, Miriam Herrera Ceja, 28, showed me the flood damage in her rented house, where the floors are buckling and the doors are stuck.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A mother of three and wife of a dairy worker, Herrera Ceja said the flood left her family with a mountain of unexpected expenses. Sewage-laced water ruined the car, as well as the fridge, the oven, the washer and dryer, the furniture and the children’s clothes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11954665\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66656_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-012-TH-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11954665 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66656_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-012-TH-KQED-800x572.jpg\" alt=\"A woman wearing a dark t-shirt holds a baby wearing a camouflage shirt while a small child wearing a grey shirt with blue jeans sits on a swing to the left holding food in their hand.\" width=\"800\" height=\"572\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66656_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-012-TH-KQED-800x572.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66656_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-012-TH-KQED-1020x729.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66656_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-012-TH-KQED-160x114.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66656_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-012-TH-KQED-1536x1097.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66656_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-012-TH-KQED-1920x1372.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66656_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-012-TH-KQED.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Miriam Herrera Ceja, 28, holds her toddler, Adriel, while her son Axel, 8, plays on a swing at her home in Planada, on June 20, 2023. She and her farmworker husband have faced severe financial struggles since the January floods in Planada. \u003ccite>(Tyche Hendricks/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Miriam Herrera Ceja, Planada resident\"]‘I think everyone in the Planada community was set back. But we won’t let it break us.’[/pullquote]With her 1-year-old son, Adriel, on her hip, Herrera Ceja leafed through a stack of medical bills on the kitchen table, amounting to nearly $4,000 she owes for a hospital visit in January, when the baby got sick at the evacuation center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We all got sick from the dampness, but the little one had it the worst,” she said. “He couldn’t breathe, and the people at the shelter sent us straight to the hospital.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Herrera Ceja and her family had settled in Planada a year and a half before the storm hit. They were admitted to the U.S. to seek asylum after her husband was shot, and nearly killed, by members of a criminal organization in their home state of Michoacán, Mexico, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was so scared. And the government couldn’t protect us. We had to get out of there,” she said. “Here we were building a new life, starting over from zero. Now we’re left with nothing again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Planada, Herrera Ceja says they feel safe from violence. And she and her husband had saved up a little money to hire an immigration attorney for their asylum case. But now, that money has been spent on a replacement car so he can get to work. And since they don’t have asylum yet, the family was turned down for \u003ca href=\"https://www.fema.gov/assistance/individual/program/citizenship-immigration-status\">aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sitting on her front stoop as her oldest child, 8-year-old Axel, played on a swing in the front yard, Herrera Ceja said she knows her family is not the only one suffering.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think everyone in the Planada community was set back,” she said. Then with a wry smile, she added, “But we won’t let it break us. We’ve got to keep moving forward.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11954661\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66646_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-005-TH-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11954661 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66646_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-005-TH-KQED-800x572.jpg\" alt=\"An older Latino man wearing a white t-shirt and black shorts stands in front of a house with a garden, pipe materials and a vehicle on the right.\" width=\"800\" height=\"572\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66646_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-005-TH-KQED-800x572.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66646_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-005-TH-KQED-1020x729.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66646_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-005-TH-KQED-160x114.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66646_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-005-TH-KQED-1536x1097.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66646_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-005-TH-KQED-1920x1372.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66646_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-005-TH-KQED.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Anastacio Rosales, 70, stands outside his home in Planada, which flooded with 3 feet of water after a levee on an irrigation canal ruptured six months earlier on Jan. 9, 2023. \u003ccite>(Tyche Hendricks/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Even Planada residents with more resources have struggled. Anastacio Rosales, 70, is a U.S. citizen and did get some help from FEMA. But though he’s a homeowner, he wasn’t carrying flood insurance. After water pooled 3 feet deep inside his house, he depended on volunteers to help tear out the sodden Sheetrock so he could rebuild the walls from the studs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Six months after the floodwaters receded, Rosales is still slowly salvaging and disinfecting his belongings, which are stacked shoulder-high under tarps on his back patio. And, Rosales said, the crop cycle has been thrown off. A semi-retired farmworker, he said he hasn’t been able to get work in the sweet potato fields this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There was so much water in the fields,” he said. “The planting happened really late. So now there’s very little work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And many of Rosales’ neighbors who are undocumented immigrants — and also lost jobs due to the storms — are not eligible for federal unemployment insurance. The state \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11946661/ive-been-contributing-undocumented-workers-are-key-to-californias-economy-a-new-bill-would-give-them-unemployment-benefits\">Legislature is considering a bill\u003c/a> to create a state safety net program for these workers, but Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a similar measure last year, citing fiscal concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A glimmer of hope\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Advocates say the flooding in Planada and elsewhere — including the Salinas Valley town of Pajaro, which was swamped after a levee break in March — was preventable, if infrastructure had been properly maintained.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11954994\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/070523-PLANADA-FLOODING-GettyImages-JS-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11954994\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/070523-PLANADA-FLOODING-GettyImages-JS-KQED-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Cars sit in floodwaters in a residential neighborhood.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/070523-PLANADA-FLOODING-GettyImages-JS-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/070523-PLANADA-FLOODING-GettyImages-JS-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/070523-PLANADA-FLOODING-GettyImages-JS-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/070523-PLANADA-FLOODING-GettyImages-JS-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/070523-PLANADA-FLOODING-GettyImages-JS-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/070523-PLANADA-FLOODING-GettyImages-JS-KQED.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cars sit in floodwaters in Planada on Jan. 11, 2023. \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It was just a nightmare this winter, watching this play out first in Planada and then in other communities,” said Madeline Harris of the Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability, a Central Valley group that advocates for the rights of rural, lower-income communities. “It was a similar story every time, of a predominantly Latino, farmworker, disadvantaged community that flooded. If their communities had not been neglected for years, this never would have happened.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But now there is a glimmer of hope for Planada residents like Rosales and Herrera Ceja.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This spring, researchers from the UC Merced Community and Labor Center, partnering with community members and advocates from the Leadership Counsel and other nonprofits, \u003ca href=\"https://clc.ucmerced.edu/sites/clc.ucmerced.edu/files/page/documents/disaster_response_0.pdf\">conducted a survey (PDF)\u003c/a> to capture the scope of the losses in Planada. The figure they reached to restore the town: $20 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And some lawmakers were listening, including Planada’s state Senator Anna Caballero and Assemblymember Esmeralda Soria.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11953847\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66505_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-18-BL-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11953847 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66505_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-18-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Rows of trees in an orchard line the right hand side of a rural road as seen through the windshield of a car.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66505_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-18-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66505_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-18-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66505_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-18-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66505_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-18-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66505_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-18-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66505_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-18-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Valley Onward employees Antonia Sierra Martínez and Maria Alapizco drive to speak with a resident in Gustine on June 21, 2023. Valley Onward is a nonprofit centered on health equity and empowering women and people of color in Merced County. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Working with lawmakers from the Pajaro area, they were able to ensure that this year’s state budget includes \u003ca href=\"https://sd14.senate.ca.gov/news/press-release/central-valley-secures-120-million-vital-funding-flood-recovery-and-restoration\">$20 million for Planada,\u003c/a> plus another $20 million for Pajaro, to help residents — regardless of immigration status — recover. The funds were approved as part of a larger package to improve flood resilience statewide — in spite of a $31 billion budget gap that lawmakers had to close.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Placing a line item on the state budget … for the exact amount that we had estimated was needed. This is incredible,” said Edward Flores, co-director of the UC Merced labor center, who conducted the survey.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Flores says the disaster in Planada — and the magnitude of climate-driven impacts hitting California farmworkers — raise a much bigger question.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So many workers are excluded from policies that are designed to protect people during times of need,” he said. “And if we’re facing increasing disasters and there’s a gap in our policy that’s not supporting those low-wage workers, then how do we need to change our policies in order to close that gap, to support those workers that are the most vulnerable during these times?”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Farmworkers in the Central Valley face excessive heat and the threat of wildfires, in jobs that keep them outdoors all day. And many are still recovering from last winter's flooding, with little federal aid to support them.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">José Federico Sierra remembers the summer when ash rained down like snow and clouds of wildfire smoke reddened the sky and choked his lungs. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That was three years ago, as the SCU Lightning Complex Fire raged across hundreds of thousands of acres just a few miles west of Gustine, the San Joaquin Valley town where Sierra works at a large dairy farm.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘How is it possible that we’re living through such a drastic increase in heat?’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Fires were bad the next year, too. And no matter what, Sierra said, his job keeps him outdoors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can’t change your work if you’re caring for livestock every day,” he said. “You just have to put on a mask and take care of yourself the best you can.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On a recent sunny day, Sierra was wrangling pregnant cows onto a livestock trailer to transport them to another part of the dairy, where they would give birth. But he hopped down from his pickup truck and greeted his sister Antonia Sierra Martínez, 45, a community health worker with a local nonprofit, Valley Onward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11953850\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66521_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-43-BL-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11953850\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66521_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-43-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Cows stand in rows of outdoor pens, some shaded and others in the sun.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66521_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-43-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66521_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-43-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66521_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-43-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66521_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-43-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66521_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-43-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66521_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-43-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cows stand in a barn in Gustine on June 21, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Though California has been spared major fires so far this year, Sierra Martínez and another community advocate were out surveying farmworkers for a state public health study about the effects of wildfire smoke. Her brother agreed to be interviewed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California’s Central Valley, climate change is making conditions increasingly dangerous for the state’s farmworkers, whose jobs keep them outdoors all day. Even as summer temperatures hit triple digits and the threat of wildfires is ever present, some rural communities are still recovering from last winter’s catastrophic floods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11953848\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66507_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-20-BL-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11953848 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66507_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-20-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Two women in black polo shirts smile together with a man and a teenager in front of a large white pick-up truck with a hitch attached to it.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66507_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-20-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66507_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-20-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66507_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-20-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66507_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-20-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66507_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-20-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66507_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-20-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Valley Onward employees Antonia Sierra Martínez (center) and Maria Alapizco (right) speak with José Federico Sierra (far right) at the farm where he works in Gustine while his son, Axel, 12, listens. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Yes, my asthma — my breathing — was most affected,” said Sierra, recalling the fire in 2020. “It felt like I was gasping for air inside a plastic bag.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How did you track whether the air quality was getting better or worse?” Sierra Martínez asked. “For example, did you listen to the radio or use an app?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My symptoms told me,” said her brother. “I felt better when the air was cleaner — and when it was harder to breathe, I knew the air was more polluted.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Rising temperatures, rising risks\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Sierra Martínez told me that she’d developed asthma, too, after moving to Gustine from Mexico to be with her farmworker husband.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even without wildfires, the San Joaquin Valley has \u003ca href=\"https://www.csustan.edu/sites/default/files/groups/Geography/Images/airpe.pdf\">some of the worst pollution in the nation (PDF)\u003c/a>. And as the weather heats up, the air quality gets worse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Climate change from carbon emissions is \u003ca href=\"https://www.energy.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2022-01/CA4_CCA_SJ_Region_Eng_ada.pdf\">making the valley hotter (PDF)\u003c/a>. In 2021, Fresno had a \u003ca href=\"https://www.fresnobee.com/fresnoland/article264860474.html\">record-breaking\u003c/a> 69 days where temperatures exceeded 100 degrees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How is it possible that we’re living through such a drastic increase in heat?” asked Sierra Martínez. “It’s sad, because here in the valley, most of our people work outside in the fields. They’re exposed to these temperatures from sunup to sundown.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11953844\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66492_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-01-BL-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11953844 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66492_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-01-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Two women walk down a sidewalk wearing black polo shirts and baseball caps in a residential neighborhood under bright sun.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66492_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-01-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66492_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-01-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66492_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-01-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66492_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-01-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66492_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-01-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66492_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-01-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Valley Onward employees Maria Alapizco (left) and Antonia Sierra Martínez walk to a home in Gustine to speak with a resident. They interview residents about working conditions and their health as it relates to pollution and toxins they are exposed to in their community and at work. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>California — unlike the federal government — does require employers to provide outdoor workers with \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/heatillnessinfo.html\">shade, water and rest breaks\u003c/a>. The state also has \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/wildfire/Worker-Protection-from-Wildfire-Smoke.html\">standards to protect workers from wildfire smoke\u003c/a>. But Sierra Martínez says some bosses are better than others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If your supervisor tells you to keep working when you know you need a break, don’t obey him. Just go! Get in the shade!” she tells field-workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California, \u003ca href=\"https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ETA/naws/pdfs/NAWS%20Research%20Report%2015.pdf\">90% of farmworkers are immigrants (PDF)\u003c/a>, most from Mexico. More than half are undocumented. Though most have worked in agriculture here for decades, their tenuous immigration status leaves many afraid to challenge their bosses, for fear they could be fired or deported, said Sierra Martínez.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Michael Méndez, a UC Irvine professor of environmental policy, has studied disaster response efforts and the marginalization of unauthorized immigrants, most of whom have no pathway to legal immigration status in the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No other population has experienced this great California climate displacement more than undocumented immigrants, farmworkers and migrant communities,” he said. “From drought that spiraled into extreme wildfire events, to heat waves … to this hydroclimatic whiplash, where we’ve gone from too much dryness to too much wetness, and individuals are being inundated from these extreme storms and failure in our infrastructure and our levees.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And, \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Méndez \u003c/span> says, that power imbalance is no accident. Political decisions have left many immigrants, especially unauthorized workers, out of the social safety net, even when they are growing the food that supports the state’s population. Undocumented immigrants don’t qualify for disaster assistance or most other forms of federal aid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These disparate, disproportionate impacts have been baked into our infrastructure, into our disaster policies that essentially have been withholding vital resources from these communities for decades, if not centuries,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Shut out from flood relief\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>On the east side of Merced County, those impacts played out dramatically last January when a levee on an irrigation canal ruptured in a storm, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11940221/undocumented-residents-in-planada-struggle-to-get-help-they-need-after-storms\">flooded hundreds of farmworker families\u003c/a> in the town of Planada. Residents say the canal was choked with trash and the levee had been neglected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One recent day, Miriam Herrera Ceja, 28, showed me the flood damage in her rented house, where the floors are buckling and the doors are stuck.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A mother of three and wife of a dairy worker, Herrera Ceja said the flood left her family with a mountain of unexpected expenses. Sewage-laced water ruined the car, as well as the fridge, the oven, the washer and dryer, the furniture and the children’s clothes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11954665\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66656_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-012-TH-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11954665 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66656_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-012-TH-KQED-800x572.jpg\" alt=\"A woman wearing a dark t-shirt holds a baby wearing a camouflage shirt while a small child wearing a grey shirt with blue jeans sits on a swing to the left holding food in their hand.\" width=\"800\" height=\"572\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66656_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-012-TH-KQED-800x572.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66656_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-012-TH-KQED-1020x729.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66656_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-012-TH-KQED-160x114.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66656_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-012-TH-KQED-1536x1097.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66656_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-012-TH-KQED-1920x1372.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66656_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-012-TH-KQED.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Miriam Herrera Ceja, 28, holds her toddler, Adriel, while her son Axel, 8, plays on a swing at her home in Planada, on June 20, 2023. She and her farmworker husband have faced severe financial struggles since the January floods in Planada. \u003ccite>(Tyche Hendricks/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘I think everyone in the Planada community was set back. But we won’t let it break us.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>With her 1-year-old son, Adriel, on her hip, Herrera Ceja leafed through a stack of medical bills on the kitchen table, amounting to nearly $4,000 she owes for a hospital visit in January, when the baby got sick at the evacuation center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We all got sick from the dampness, but the little one had it the worst,” she said. “He couldn’t breathe, and the people at the shelter sent us straight to the hospital.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Herrera Ceja and her family had settled in Planada a year and a half before the storm hit. They were admitted to the U.S. to seek asylum after her husband was shot, and nearly killed, by members of a criminal organization in their home state of Michoacán, Mexico, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was so scared. And the government couldn’t protect us. We had to get out of there,” she said. “Here we were building a new life, starting over from zero. Now we’re left with nothing again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Planada, Herrera Ceja says they feel safe from violence. And she and her husband had saved up a little money to hire an immigration attorney for their asylum case. But now, that money has been spent on a replacement car so he can get to work. And since they don’t have asylum yet, the family was turned down for \u003ca href=\"https://www.fema.gov/assistance/individual/program/citizenship-immigration-status\">aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sitting on her front stoop as her oldest child, 8-year-old Axel, played on a swing in the front yard, Herrera Ceja said she knows her family is not the only one suffering.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think everyone in the Planada community was set back,” she said. Then with a wry smile, she added, “But we won’t let it break us. We’ve got to keep moving forward.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11954661\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66646_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-005-TH-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11954661 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66646_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-005-TH-KQED-800x572.jpg\" alt=\"An older Latino man wearing a white t-shirt and black shorts stands in front of a house with a garden, pipe materials and a vehicle on the right.\" width=\"800\" height=\"572\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66646_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-005-TH-KQED-800x572.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66646_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-005-TH-KQED-1020x729.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66646_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-005-TH-KQED-160x114.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66646_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-005-TH-KQED-1536x1097.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66646_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-005-TH-KQED-1920x1372.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66646_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-005-TH-KQED.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Anastacio Rosales, 70, stands outside his home in Planada, which flooded with 3 feet of water after a levee on an irrigation canal ruptured six months earlier on Jan. 9, 2023. \u003ccite>(Tyche Hendricks/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Even Planada residents with more resources have struggled. Anastacio Rosales, 70, is a U.S. citizen and did get some help from FEMA. But though he’s a homeowner, he wasn’t carrying flood insurance. After water pooled 3 feet deep inside his house, he depended on volunteers to help tear out the sodden Sheetrock so he could rebuild the walls from the studs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Six months after the floodwaters receded, Rosales is still slowly salvaging and disinfecting his belongings, which are stacked shoulder-high under tarps on his back patio. And, Rosales said, the crop cycle has been thrown off. A semi-retired farmworker, he said he hasn’t been able to get work in the sweet potato fields this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There was so much water in the fields,” he said. “The planting happened really late. So now there’s very little work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And many of Rosales’ neighbors who are undocumented immigrants — and also lost jobs due to the storms — are not eligible for federal unemployment insurance. The state \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11946661/ive-been-contributing-undocumented-workers-are-key-to-californias-economy-a-new-bill-would-give-them-unemployment-benefits\">Legislature is considering a bill\u003c/a> to create a state safety net program for these workers, but Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a similar measure last year, citing fiscal concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A glimmer of hope\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Advocates say the flooding in Planada and elsewhere — including the Salinas Valley town of Pajaro, which was swamped after a levee break in March — was preventable, if infrastructure had been properly maintained.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11954994\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/070523-PLANADA-FLOODING-GettyImages-JS-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11954994\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/070523-PLANADA-FLOODING-GettyImages-JS-KQED-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Cars sit in floodwaters in a residential neighborhood.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/070523-PLANADA-FLOODING-GettyImages-JS-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/070523-PLANADA-FLOODING-GettyImages-JS-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/070523-PLANADA-FLOODING-GettyImages-JS-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/070523-PLANADA-FLOODING-GettyImages-JS-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/070523-PLANADA-FLOODING-GettyImages-JS-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/070523-PLANADA-FLOODING-GettyImages-JS-KQED.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cars sit in floodwaters in Planada on Jan. 11, 2023. \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It was just a nightmare this winter, watching this play out first in Planada and then in other communities,” said Madeline Harris of the Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability, a Central Valley group that advocates for the rights of rural, lower-income communities. “It was a similar story every time, of a predominantly Latino, farmworker, disadvantaged community that flooded. If their communities had not been neglected for years, this never would have happened.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But now there is a glimmer of hope for Planada residents like Rosales and Herrera Ceja.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This spring, researchers from the UC Merced Community and Labor Center, partnering with community members and advocates from the Leadership Counsel and other nonprofits, \u003ca href=\"https://clc.ucmerced.edu/sites/clc.ucmerced.edu/files/page/documents/disaster_response_0.pdf\">conducted a survey (PDF)\u003c/a> to capture the scope of the losses in Planada. The figure they reached to restore the town: $20 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And some lawmakers were listening, including Planada’s state Senator Anna Caballero and Assemblymember Esmeralda Soria.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11953847\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66505_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-18-BL-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11953847 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66505_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-18-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Rows of trees in an orchard line the right hand side of a rural road as seen through the windshield of a car.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66505_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-18-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66505_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-18-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66505_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-18-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66505_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-18-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66505_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-18-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66505_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-18-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Valley Onward employees Antonia Sierra Martínez and Maria Alapizco drive to speak with a resident in Gustine on June 21, 2023. Valley Onward is a nonprofit centered on health equity and empowering women and people of color in Merced County. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Working with lawmakers from the Pajaro area, they were able to ensure that this year’s state budget includes \u003ca href=\"https://sd14.senate.ca.gov/news/press-release/central-valley-secures-120-million-vital-funding-flood-recovery-and-restoration\">$20 million for Planada,\u003c/a> plus another $20 million for Pajaro, to help residents — regardless of immigration status — recover. The funds were approved as part of a larger package to improve flood resilience statewide — in spite of a $31 billion budget gap that lawmakers had to close.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Placing a line item on the state budget … for the exact amount that we had estimated was needed. This is incredible,” said Edward Flores, co-director of the UC Merced labor center, who conducted the survey.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Flores says the disaster in Planada — and the magnitude of climate-driven impacts hitting California farmworkers — raise a much bigger question.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So many workers are excluded from policies that are designed to protect people during times of need,” he said. “And if we’re facing increasing disasters and there’s a gap in our policy that’s not supporting those low-wage workers, then how do we need to change our policies in order to close that gap, to support those workers that are the most vulnerable during these times?”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "California Scrambles to Save Its Home Insurance Industry After State Farm Opts Out of Selling New Policies",
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"content": "\u003cp>State Farm made national headlines last week when it said it would stop selling new home insurance policies in California. As California’s largest single provider of bundled home insurance policies — the company had \u003ca href=\"https://www.insurance.ca.gov/01-consumers/120-company/04-mrktshare/2021/upload/Top25grps2021wa_Revised.pdf\">20% of the market in 2021 (PDF)\u003c/a> — the news struck some as the beginning of a fresh emergency, with insurers abandoning a fire- and flood-ravaged state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the retraction of California’s biggest home coverage provider is only the latest development in a wildfire-fueled crisis that has smoldered beneath the surface of the state’s insurance market for years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Seren Taylor, vice president, Personal Insurance Federation of California\"] ‘State Farm sort of publicly said what they were doing, but I think for the last few years, we’ve all seen insurers restricting and pulling back their business in California.’[/pullquote]After the disastrous fires of 2017 and 2018, the number of Californians who were told by their insurers that their policies wouldn’t be renewed \u003ca href=\"https://www.insurance.ca.gov/01-consumers/200-wrr/upload/CDI-Fact-Sheet-Residential-Insurance-Market-Policy-Count-Data-December-2022.pdf\">jumped up by 42% (PDF)\u003c/a> to almost 235,000 households. The two severe wildfire years wiped out decades of industry profits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, American International Group \u003ca href=\"https://www.wsj.com/articles/wildfire-risk-in-california-drives-insurers-to-pull-policies-for-pricey-homes-11642593601?mod=article_inline\">let thousands of customers know their home insurance policies would not be renewed\u003c/a>, and Chubb, a high-end insurer, said it would continue to non-renew some of its customers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And late last year, thousands of condo owners also found themselves among the uninsurable as the state’s regulated insurers \u003ca href=\"https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/story/2023-02-10/san-diego-lawmakers-urge-state-to-help-condo-owners-hit-by-soaring-insurance-costs\">dropped suburban homeowner association members\u003c/a> in droves across San Diego County’s wildfire-prone shrubland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=\"news_11937459,science_1980493,news_11933739\" label=\"Related Posts\"]“State Farm sort of publicly said what they were doing, but I think for the last few years, we’ve all seen insurers restricting and pulling back their business in California,” said Seren Taylor, vice president of Personal Insurance Federation of California, an industry trade group that counts State Farm as a member.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State officials emphasized that State Farm’s current policyholders will not lose coverage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s important to note that current customers will not lose their insurance,” wrote Michael Soller, deputy insurance commissioner at California’s Insurance Department, in an email to CalMatters. This decision will affect people who are shopping for home insurance, in that they will have one fewer provider to choose from.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State Farm in a press release blamed high construction costs that make it extra expensive to rebuild after a home is destroyed in California, growing natural disaster risk — particularly from wildfires — and “a challenging reinsurance market.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Insurance companies frequently purchase their own insurance — known as “reinsurance” — to minimize the risk of getting hit with millions of dollars of costs all at once, as might happen during a catastrophic wildfire or a major hurricane.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.wsj.com/articles/insurers-are-facing-a-steep-rise-in-reinsurance-rates-11667858056\">Reinsurance premiums have spiked\u003c/a> in recent years in disaster-prone states like fire-ravaged California and storm-battered Florida, Louisiana and Texas. California law prohibits insurers from passing along the cost of reinsurance to customers. Industry groups are lobbying to change that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is tough for legislators,” said John Norwood, a lobbyist for independent insurance brokers. “Because the solution is prices going up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How California regulates home insurance\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>High rebuild costs, increasingly severe wildfires and high prices of reinsurance all are risks that insurance companies might be willing to take on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But only for the right price.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Increases in insurance premiums in California are approved or denied by the state’s elected insurance commissioner, Ricardo Lara. Industry groups have long argued that Lara’s office has not allowed providers to set prices commensurate with the cost of doing business in fire-prone California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have very inexpensive home insurance in California,” compared to other states, said Michael Wara, director of the climate and energy policy program at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. “But the thing is, five years ago, we realized, ‘Oh, yeah, actually in California you can burn down 50,000 houses overnight.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The consequences of a continued drip-drip decline of insurers from California could be far more costly in the long run, warns Dan Dunmoyer, president of the California Building Industry Association.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As an illustration, he points to California history. After the 1994 Northridge earthquake dealt roughly $42 billion in damage across Southern California, \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/opinion/la-xpm-2014-jan-17-la-oe-ones-northridge-quake-insurance-20140117-story.html\">many home insurers opted to stop doing new business\u003c/a> in California entirely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because home insurance is a basic requirement for most home loans, the exodus of insurers caused the state real estate industry to grind to a halt, Dunmoyer recalled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The whole world stopped,” he said. “That’s the worst-case scenario. We’re not quite there yet.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Can California block State Farm’s retreat?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>There are various ideas circulating — some more drastic than others— about what the state can do to keep State Farm in the market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The advocacy group Consumer Watchdog on Tuesday argued that \u003ca href=\"https://consumerwatchdog.org/insurance/insurance-commissioner-lara-must-use-prop-103-authority-to-reverse-state-farms-pullback/\">Insurance Commissioner Lara\u003c/a> has the power to order State Farm to reverse its decision. That authority, the group said, comes from Proposition 103, a voter-backed initiative passed in 1988 that gave the department the power to approve or deny premium increases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wara, from Stanford Law, said the idea was a “nonconstructive approach to this problem.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said the entire insurance industry likely would sue the state if the California insurance department were to assert that authority, and the lawsuit would take several years to resolve. He said he finds it “hard to believe” that a court would force the industry to keep issuing new insurance policies during the years the case was in court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That is a recipe for the entire market falling apart, potentially overnight,” Wara said. “That would undo not just the insurance market, but everybody that has a home mortgage in California, everybody that wants to buy or sell a home in California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Last resort for California homeowners\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Another sword hanging over the state’s insurance industry: The possible demise of the FAIR Plan, the limited insurance plan Californians can turn to when no standard private company will cover them. It’s funded by levies on private insurance companies that do business in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of other insurers have stopped selling,” said Amy Bach, executive director of United Policyholders, a consumer group. “If you talk to an agent or broker today, they’re going to tell you it can be pretty hard to find insurance” outside of the FAIR Plan, Bach said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the risk of catastrophic wildfire ramps up across California, that risk falls disproportionately on the FAIR Plan. And if an especially severe fire season renders the plan bankrupt, the tab will fall on those insurers still doing business in the state in proportion to their share of the market, said Wara.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State Farm, as the largest insurer, would have to chip in the most. That’s one reason the company might have decided to not issue new policies anywhere in California rather than just limiting new policies to places with low wildfire risk. “State Farm is saying ‘we want less of that,’” Wara said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That problem isn’t unique to California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Texas, the increasing severity of Gulf Coast hurricanes has driven tens of thousands of homeowners onto that state’s chartered backstop insurer, leading to \u003ca href=\"https://www.eenews.net/articles/growing-insurance-crisis-spreads-to-texas/\">talk of an inevitable crisis\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Florida, the crisis may already have arrived. This week, Florida’s insurance commissioner authorized a \u003ca href=\"https://thecapitolist.com/citizens-insurance-secures-1-25-billion-in-credit-ahead-of-hurricane-season/\">$1.25 billion line of credit\u003c/a> to that state’s insurer of last resort — now the single largest insurer — in preparation for the coming storm season.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>State Farm made national headlines last week when it said it would stop selling new home insurance policies in California. As California’s largest single provider of bundled home insurance policies — the company had \u003ca href=\"https://www.insurance.ca.gov/01-consumers/120-company/04-mrktshare/2021/upload/Top25grps2021wa_Revised.pdf\">20% of the market in 2021 (PDF)\u003c/a> — the news struck some as the beginning of a fresh emergency, with insurers abandoning a fire- and flood-ravaged state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the retraction of California’s biggest home coverage provider is only the latest development in a wildfire-fueled crisis that has smoldered beneath the surface of the state’s insurance market for years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>After the disastrous fires of 2017 and 2018, the number of Californians who were told by their insurers that their policies wouldn’t be renewed \u003ca href=\"https://www.insurance.ca.gov/01-consumers/200-wrr/upload/CDI-Fact-Sheet-Residential-Insurance-Market-Policy-Count-Data-December-2022.pdf\">jumped up by 42% (PDF)\u003c/a> to almost 235,000 households. The two severe wildfire years wiped out decades of industry profits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, American International Group \u003ca href=\"https://www.wsj.com/articles/wildfire-risk-in-california-drives-insurers-to-pull-policies-for-pricey-homes-11642593601?mod=article_inline\">let thousands of customers know their home insurance policies would not be renewed\u003c/a>, and Chubb, a high-end insurer, said it would continue to non-renew some of its customers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And late last year, thousands of condo owners also found themselves among the uninsurable as the state’s regulated insurers \u003ca href=\"https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/story/2023-02-10/san-diego-lawmakers-urge-state-to-help-condo-owners-hit-by-soaring-insurance-costs\">dropped suburban homeowner association members\u003c/a> in droves across San Diego County’s wildfire-prone shrubland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“State Farm sort of publicly said what they were doing, but I think for the last few years, we’ve all seen insurers restricting and pulling back their business in California,” said Seren Taylor, vice president of Personal Insurance Federation of California, an industry trade group that counts State Farm as a member.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State officials emphasized that State Farm’s current policyholders will not lose coverage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s important to note that current customers will not lose their insurance,” wrote Michael Soller, deputy insurance commissioner at California’s Insurance Department, in an email to CalMatters. This decision will affect people who are shopping for home insurance, in that they will have one fewer provider to choose from.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State Farm in a press release blamed high construction costs that make it extra expensive to rebuild after a home is destroyed in California, growing natural disaster risk — particularly from wildfires — and “a challenging reinsurance market.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Insurance companies frequently purchase their own insurance — known as “reinsurance” — to minimize the risk of getting hit with millions of dollars of costs all at once, as might happen during a catastrophic wildfire or a major hurricane.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.wsj.com/articles/insurers-are-facing-a-steep-rise-in-reinsurance-rates-11667858056\">Reinsurance premiums have spiked\u003c/a> in recent years in disaster-prone states like fire-ravaged California and storm-battered Florida, Louisiana and Texas. California law prohibits insurers from passing along the cost of reinsurance to customers. Industry groups are lobbying to change that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is tough for legislators,” said John Norwood, a lobbyist for independent insurance brokers. “Because the solution is prices going up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How California regulates home insurance\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>High rebuild costs, increasingly severe wildfires and high prices of reinsurance all are risks that insurance companies might be willing to take on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But only for the right price.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Increases in insurance premiums in California are approved or denied by the state’s elected insurance commissioner, Ricardo Lara. Industry groups have long argued that Lara’s office has not allowed providers to set prices commensurate with the cost of doing business in fire-prone California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have very inexpensive home insurance in California,” compared to other states, said Michael Wara, director of the climate and energy policy program at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. “But the thing is, five years ago, we realized, ‘Oh, yeah, actually in California you can burn down 50,000 houses overnight.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The consequences of a continued drip-drip decline of insurers from California could be far more costly in the long run, warns Dan Dunmoyer, president of the California Building Industry Association.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As an illustration, he points to California history. After the 1994 Northridge earthquake dealt roughly $42 billion in damage across Southern California, \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/opinion/la-xpm-2014-jan-17-la-oe-ones-northridge-quake-insurance-20140117-story.html\">many home insurers opted to stop doing new business\u003c/a> in California entirely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because home insurance is a basic requirement for most home loans, the exodus of insurers caused the state real estate industry to grind to a halt, Dunmoyer recalled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The whole world stopped,” he said. “That’s the worst-case scenario. We’re not quite there yet.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Can California block State Farm’s retreat?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>There are various ideas circulating — some more drastic than others— about what the state can do to keep State Farm in the market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The advocacy group Consumer Watchdog on Tuesday argued that \u003ca href=\"https://consumerwatchdog.org/insurance/insurance-commissioner-lara-must-use-prop-103-authority-to-reverse-state-farms-pullback/\">Insurance Commissioner Lara\u003c/a> has the power to order State Farm to reverse its decision. That authority, the group said, comes from Proposition 103, a voter-backed initiative passed in 1988 that gave the department the power to approve or deny premium increases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wara, from Stanford Law, said the idea was a “nonconstructive approach to this problem.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said the entire insurance industry likely would sue the state if the California insurance department were to assert that authority, and the lawsuit would take several years to resolve. He said he finds it “hard to believe” that a court would force the industry to keep issuing new insurance policies during the years the case was in court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That is a recipe for the entire market falling apart, potentially overnight,” Wara said. “That would undo not just the insurance market, but everybody that has a home mortgage in California, everybody that wants to buy or sell a home in California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Last resort for California homeowners\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Another sword hanging over the state’s insurance industry: The possible demise of the FAIR Plan, the limited insurance plan Californians can turn to when no standard private company will cover them. It’s funded by levies on private insurance companies that do business in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of other insurers have stopped selling,” said Amy Bach, executive director of United Policyholders, a consumer group. “If you talk to an agent or broker today, they’re going to tell you it can be pretty hard to find insurance” outside of the FAIR Plan, Bach said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the risk of catastrophic wildfire ramps up across California, that risk falls disproportionately on the FAIR Plan. And if an especially severe fire season renders the plan bankrupt, the tab will fall on those insurers still doing business in the state in proportion to their share of the market, said Wara.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State Farm, as the largest insurer, would have to chip in the most. That’s one reason the company might have decided to not issue new policies anywhere in California rather than just limiting new policies to places with low wildfire risk. “State Farm is saying ‘we want less of that,’” Wara said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That problem isn’t unique to California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Texas, the increasing severity of Gulf Coast hurricanes has driven tens of thousands of homeowners onto that state’s chartered backstop insurer, leading to \u003ca href=\"https://www.eenews.net/articles/growing-insurance-crisis-spreads-to-texas/\">talk of an inevitable crisis\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Florida, the crisis may already have arrived. This week, Florida’s insurance commissioner authorized a \u003ca href=\"https://thecapitolist.com/citizens-insurance-secures-1-25-billion-in-credit-ahead-of-hurricane-season/\">$1.25 billion line of credit\u003c/a> to that state’s insurer of last resort — now the single largest insurer — in preparation for the coming storm season.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Allensworth Braces For Floods; ’70s Band Fanny Reclaims Their Right To Rock",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-california-report-magazine/id1314750545?mt=2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Listen to this and more in-depth storytelling by subscribing to The California Report Magazine podcast.\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11949138/how-systemic-racism-is-putting-allensworth-a-historically-black-town-at-risk-of-flooding-again\">How a Legacy of Racism Is Putting a 115-Year-Old Historically Black Town At Risk of Flooding, Again\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Back in the early 1900s, the town of Allensworth became the first California town founded, financed and governed by Black Americans. The fertile Tulare Lake region should’ve been a utopia for the Black doctors, professors and farmers who settled there. But historic power dynamics left them, and the Allensworth community today, on the losing side of many water and land use questions. Now, as the Sierra snowpack melts and floods the Tulare Lake Basin, communities like Allensworth are uniquely vulnerable to flooding. Reporter Teresa Cotsirilos visited Allensworth earlier this spring to learn how residents are coping.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11949142/buried-without-a-trace-the-all-female-rock-group-youve-probably-never-heard\">Meet Fanny, the Best ’70s All-Female Band You Probably Haven’t Heard Of\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>When you think of California rockers from the 1970s, bands like the Eagles or Journey might come to mind. You probably don’t picture an interracial band of women — some of them Filipina-American and queer — from places like Sacramento and Folsom. Fanny was the first all-female rock band to release an album on a major label, breaking ground for women musicians like the Go Gos, the B52s, and Bonnie Rait. In fact, Fanny released five albums by 1974, but today, a lot of people haven’t heard of them. A new documentary film screening at CAAMFest in San Francisco follows band members nearly 50 years later as they record a reunion album. Sasha Khokha spoke with June Millington, Fanny’s lead guitarist, and film director, Bobbi Jo Hart, about the band’s legacy, the film and why age is just a number.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Allensworth was the first California town founded and governed by Black Americans back in 1908. Since then, residents have struggled against a legacy of racism in the region that makes the more vulnerable when disasters hit. And, Fanny is back! The 1970s rock group paved the way for other all-women bands with their ferocious playing.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-california-report-magazine/id1314750545?mt=2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Listen to this and more in-depth storytelling by subscribing to The California Report Magazine podcast.\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11949138/how-systemic-racism-is-putting-allensworth-a-historically-black-town-at-risk-of-flooding-again\">How a Legacy of Racism Is Putting a 115-Year-Old Historically Black Town At Risk of Flooding, Again\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Back in the early 1900s, the town of Allensworth became the first California town founded, financed and governed by Black Americans. The fertile Tulare Lake region should’ve been a utopia for the Black doctors, professors and farmers who settled there. But historic power dynamics left them, and the Allensworth community today, on the losing side of many water and land use questions. Now, as the Sierra snowpack melts and floods the Tulare Lake Basin, communities like Allensworth are uniquely vulnerable to flooding. Reporter Teresa Cotsirilos visited Allensworth earlier this spring to learn how residents are coping.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11949142/buried-without-a-trace-the-all-female-rock-group-youve-probably-never-heard\">Meet Fanny, the Best ’70s All-Female Band You Probably Haven’t Heard Of\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>When you think of California rockers from the 1970s, bands like the Eagles or Journey might come to mind. You probably don’t picture an interracial band of women — some of them Filipina-American and queer — from places like Sacramento and Folsom. Fanny was the first all-female rock band to release an album on a major label, breaking ground for women musicians like the Go Gos, the B52s, and Bonnie Rait. In fact, Fanny released five albums by 1974, but today, a lot of people haven’t heard of them. A new documentary film screening at CAAMFest in San Francisco follows band members nearly 50 years later as they record a reunion album. Sasha Khokha spoke with June Millington, Fanny’s lead guitarist, and film director, Bobbi Jo Hart, about the band’s legacy, the film and why age is just a number.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "How a Legacy of Racism Is Putting a 115-Year-Old Historically Black Town At Risk of Flooding — Again",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11925020/promised-land-a-historically-black-california-town-honors-its-proud-painful-past-and-fights-for-its-future\">Allensworth, a farmworker town\u003c/a> of about 500 people in California’s San Joaquin Valley, sits at the edge of an area called the Tulare Lake basin, a patchwork of scrub brush and irrigated farmland that’s part of the most productive agricultural region in the nation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last March, California’s barrage of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11943031/atmospheric-river-storm-san-francisco-bay-area-impacts-march-9-2023\">atmospheric river storms\u003c/a> overwhelmed the area, flooding pistachio orchards and swamping communities, and Allensworth found itself all but surrounded by a shallow sea. Residents were told to evacuate. They were also told that this flood is just the beginning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California is fighting a slow-motion disaster, one that could become its largest flood in recent history. As the near-record snowpack in the Sierra melts, the water making its way through the foothills is pooling in the basin, \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/reborn-from-record-winter-tulare-lake-could-see-explosive-growth-from-snowmelt/\">reviving a lake that had long since disappeared\u003c/a>. This process is expected to accelerate over the coming weeks and months, and it could take up to two years to subside. And while the return of Tulare Lake could devastate everyone in the region, historically disenfranchised communities like Allensworth are uniquely vulnerable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11949155\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11949155\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/001_KQED_Allensworth_05042023.jpg\" alt=\"A field is flooded with nearby lake water. Brown brush peeks up from beneath the water.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/001_KQED_Allensworth_05042023.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/001_KQED_Allensworth_05042023-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/001_KQED_Allensworth_05042023-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/001_KQED_Allensworth_05042023-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/001_KQED_Allensworth_05042023-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Water from Tulare Lake fills a field outside Allensworth. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It’s a horrific situation,” said Denise Kadara, an Allensworth community leader and vice chair of the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board. “We’re here like sitting ducks, waiting for the water to come and flood us out.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Part of Allensworth’s problem stems from the politics of water: For over a hundred years, water in the Tulare Lake basin has been controlled and hoarded by a handful of powerful landowners, usually at the expense of everyone else. The basin’s water management system still favors those landowners, leaving Allensworth with little recourse when floodwaters approach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘I don’t need a whole bunch of people to break the law’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>That was evident one windy night in March, when Allensworth residents Takoa Kadara and his father, Kayode, called an emergency town meeting. The goal was simple: to keep the water massing in the basin from pouring into people’s homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Denise Kadara, vice chair, Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board\"]‘It’s a horrific situation. We’re here like sitting ducks, waiting for the water to come and flood us out.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the time, water was flowing toward town through culverts that run under railroad tracks to the east. The culverts are on private property, and the tracks that run on top of them are owned by BNSF Railway, one of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.bnsf.com/bnsf-resources/pdf/about-bnsf/fact_sheet.pdf\">top freight transportation companies in the nation (PDF)\u003c/a>. The last time community members tried to block the culverts with rocks, gravel and plywood, a BNSF employee called the police, then removed the makeshift dam they had built.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11949153\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11949153\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/011_KQED_Allensworth_05042023.jpg\" alt='A gray building with a sign out front that reads, \"Allensworth Community Center.\" A white SUV is parked in the driveway and gray clouds hover above. The road surrounding the property is visibly wet from flooding.' width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/011_KQED_Allensworth_05042023.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/011_KQED_Allensworth_05042023-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/011_KQED_Allensworth_05042023-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/011_KQED_Allensworth_05042023-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/011_KQED_Allensworth_05042023-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Allensworth Community Center. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Now the group wanted to protect the community, but knew they might be at risk of breaking the law. Residents saw only two options: act illegally, or not at all. And they couldn’t come to an agreement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you guys disagree with this solution, then let’s go home,” Kayode Kadara said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No, it’s not, ‘Let’s go home!’” his son said. “Let’s come up with another solution.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ll just say it like it is,” said one resident, who declined to give his name. “If I’m gonna break the law, I don’t need a whole bunch of people to break the law [with me]. Ten minutes? We’re gone.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Allensworth residents have tried to block the culverts legally — many, many times. But BNSF wouldn’t give them permission to do it, and so far, the town hasn’t been able to find a government agency with the power to override the corporation’s decision, or persuade it to reconsider. Their \u003ca href=\"https://sjvwater.org/whos-in-charge-agencies-deal-with-fragmented-flood-response-in-the-south-san-joaquin-valley/\">local stormwater district doesn’t have jurisdiction over the railroad’s property\u003c/a>, and representatives from several state agencies, including Caltrans, Cal Fire and the Department of Water Resources, said they couldn’t do anything either, even though community members said those agencies agreed that the water spilling through the culverts is a problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11949152\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11949152\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/015_KQED_Allensworth_05042023.jpg\" alt=\"A pile of sandbags line the perimeter of a small home. In the front yard, a blue trampoline is visible and a weathered, black mailbox sits on top of a thick piece of wood.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/015_KQED_Allensworth_05042023.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/015_KQED_Allensworth_05042023-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/015_KQED_Allensworth_05042023-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/015_KQED_Allensworth_05042023-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/015_KQED_Allensworth_05042023-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sandbags surround a home in Allensworth. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>BNSF did not respond to a request for comment, but in an \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-03-18/california-towns-frantic-fight-floods\">interview with the\u003cem> Los Angeles Times\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, a company spokesperson claimed that blocking the culverts could damage their tracks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Allensworth was put under a mandatory evacuation order back in March, the Kadaras and most of their neighbors refused to leave. Who would defend their town if they did?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The water flowing is natural,” Denise Kadara said — but, she added, it’s also determined by men who say, “This is where they want the water to go.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The history behind today’s water politics\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>To understand the power dynamics in the Tulare Lake basin — and how Allensworth ended up on the losing side of it — we have to go back to when the town was founded and Tulare Lake was still alive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11949149\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11949149\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/026_KQED_Allensworth_05042023.jpg\" alt=\"A historic sign that reads, "California's African American Pioneers." Illustrations of historic men and women are surrounded by text explaining each figure.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/026_KQED_Allensworth_05042023.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/026_KQED_Allensworth_05042023-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/026_KQED_Allensworth_05042023-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/026_KQED_Allensworth_05042023-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/026_KQED_Allensworth_05042023-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A sign with information about California’s African American historical figures sits at the entrance to Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In 1908, Lt. Col. Allen Allensworth was a formerly enslaved person who became the highest-ranking Black military officer of his time. As Jim Crow tightened its grip throughout the South, he moved to California to create what he hoped would become the “Tuskegee of the West,” a thriving Black community and college town. Founded by a dream team of Black doctors, professors and farmers, the community of Allensworth became \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11925020/promised-land-a-historically-black-california-town-honors-its-proud-painful-past-and-fights-for-its-future\">the first town in California to be founded, financed and governed by Black Americans\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Allensworth picked a spot near Tulare Lake, which used to be the largest lake west of the Mississippi. Accounts from the late 1800s describe it as shallow, thick with tule reeds and ringed by marshland. Herds of elk waded through the shallows, and millions of migratory birds flocked to its shores every year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But by the time Allensworth got there, the lake was rapidly disappearing — and had been for years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Geologists call that end of the San Joaquin Valley one of the most engineered landscapes in human history,” said Mark Arax, a journalist and expert on the Central Valley’s history and water politics. “[The] human hand has altered that land in a way that few places have been altered.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11949154\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11949154\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/005_KQED_Allensworth_05042023.jpg\" alt=\"A cargo train in the distance steams ahead next to a large dirt field that has been flooded with water. Gray clouds hover above.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/005_KQED_Allensworth_05042023.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/005_KQED_Allensworth_05042023-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/005_KQED_Allensworth_05042023-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/005_KQED_Allensworth_05042023-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/005_KQED_Allensworth_05042023-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Floodwater from Tulare Lake lingers beside train tracks. One of the main flooding threats residents face are culverts that run under the tracks, sending water straight toward the town. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The residents of Allensworth weren’t the only people who’d settled along Tulare Lake. A group of white landowners had settled there, too — some descending from slave-owning families.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Many of them were Southerners who’d come from the Confederate states,” Arax said. “They arrived here and they started grabbing the snowmelt out of those rivers, and then diverting that onto their farmland.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the 1920s, two particularly bold landowner families, the Boswells and the Salyers, made a move on the lake bed itself. The soil at the bottom was dark and unusually rich; it’d be the perfect place for a farm, if the lake weren’t in the way. So they drained it and diverted the water for irrigation. According to Arax, those diversions ended up drying up the lake completely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, Allensworth couldn’t get enough water to sustain itself, no matter how hard the community tried. White farmers diverted a river they relied on. A white-owned company refused to dig the community’s wells, but it was more than happy to dig wells for a white town nearby. By the 1920s, a lot of Allensworth’s original settlers had moved away. And by the 1940s, the white landowners in the Tulare Lake basin had become some of the most powerful farmers in the country, and had successfully seized control of the water for themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11949150\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11949150\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/021_KQED_Allensworth_05042023.jpg\" alt=\"An open field with green and tan weeds and plants sits under a gray, cloudy sky. In the center, a brown, wooden barn rests to the left of two, small white homes.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/021_KQED_Allensworth_05042023.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/021_KQED_Allensworth_05042023-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/021_KQED_Allensworth_05042023-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/021_KQED_Allensworth_05042023-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/021_KQED_Allensworth_05042023-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Historic homes and buildings fill Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Those long-established power dynamics are still at work in the region. Today, Allensworth is a farmworker town where the tap water isn’t safe to drink. Many of its neighbors are large corporations and wealthy farmers, and these neighbors control many local agencies — like water and reclamation districts — which make decisions about who gets water in dry years and what to do when the floods come.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You have these quasi government agencies, but they’re controlled by the biggest landowners,” Arax said. “It’s a no-man’s-land in a lot of ways, and that’s the way it’s operated. It resorts to its own devices all the time.”[aside postID=news_11925109 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/RS58542_01_Allensworth00018-qut-1020x652.jpg']The Tulare Lake basin also has a long history of levee sabotage. Historically, when the basin has flooded, some farmers have cut levees and blocked canals to protect their land, but this also threatened the town with flooding. This is still happening today. Denise Kadara remembers getting the news from their local stormwater manager in March that a levee on the west side of town had been intentionally breached, prompting calls to evacuate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As communities like Allensworth brace for the snowmelt this spring — and the floods they know are coming — this history of water theft, sabotage and discrimination is always in the backs of their minds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although residents at that March meeting decided against blocking the railroad culverts, they haven’t stayed quiet. Allensworth’s community leaders have been calling every government official they can think of, trying to find someone who can help. And in the past few weeks, Takoa Kadara and his family say some politicians and government agencies have started to respond.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11949163\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11949163 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyTCRMAG-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A Black man with trim white hair and a white beard, wearing a gray, button-up shirt, sits at a table with a white man (the governor) dressed casually in a blue puffer vest, leaning forward with his forearms on his thighs. The two are looking at paperwork in a spare, clean, well-lit commercial room.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1706\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyTCRMAG-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyTCRMAG-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyTCRMAG-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyTCRMAG-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyTCRMAG-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyTCRMAG-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyTCRMAG-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kayode Kadara (left) shows photos to Gov. Gavin Newsom during a meeting with community leaders to talk about flood preparedness, on Tuesday, April 25, 2023, in Allensworth. \u003ccite>(Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire’s emergency response team blocked the levee that was allegedly sabotaged, as well as other breaches, saving the town from flooding. Gov. Gavin Newsom visited the community in April, and promised to send more resources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Allensworth residents are used to the system in this basin working against them, but they hope that’s finally changing. How state agencies act may be the only thing standing between Allensworth and catastrophic flooding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need all the help we can get from every agency, and every person that wants to help and believes in communities like ours,” Denise Kadara said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Allensworth, in the Tulare Lake basin, braces for major flooding as the Sierra snowpack melts. Residents are hoping California will step in.",
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"title": "How a Legacy of Racism Is Putting a 115-Year-Old Historically Black Town At Risk of Flooding — Again | KQED",
"description": "Allensworth, in the Tulare Lake basin, braces for major flooding as the Sierra snowpack melts. Residents are hoping California will step in.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11925020/promised-land-a-historically-black-california-town-honors-its-proud-painful-past-and-fights-for-its-future\">Allensworth, a farmworker town\u003c/a> of about 500 people in California’s San Joaquin Valley, sits at the edge of an area called the Tulare Lake basin, a patchwork of scrub brush and irrigated farmland that’s part of the most productive agricultural region in the nation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last March, California’s barrage of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11943031/atmospheric-river-storm-san-francisco-bay-area-impacts-march-9-2023\">atmospheric river storms\u003c/a> overwhelmed the area, flooding pistachio orchards and swamping communities, and Allensworth found itself all but surrounded by a shallow sea. Residents were told to evacuate. They were also told that this flood is just the beginning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California is fighting a slow-motion disaster, one that could become its largest flood in recent history. As the near-record snowpack in the Sierra melts, the water making its way through the foothills is pooling in the basin, \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/reborn-from-record-winter-tulare-lake-could-see-explosive-growth-from-snowmelt/\">reviving a lake that had long since disappeared\u003c/a>. This process is expected to accelerate over the coming weeks and months, and it could take up to two years to subside. And while the return of Tulare Lake could devastate everyone in the region, historically disenfranchised communities like Allensworth are uniquely vulnerable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11949155\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11949155\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/001_KQED_Allensworth_05042023.jpg\" alt=\"A field is flooded with nearby lake water. Brown brush peeks up from beneath the water.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/001_KQED_Allensworth_05042023.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/001_KQED_Allensworth_05042023-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/001_KQED_Allensworth_05042023-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/001_KQED_Allensworth_05042023-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/001_KQED_Allensworth_05042023-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Water from Tulare Lake fills a field outside Allensworth. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It’s a horrific situation,” said Denise Kadara, an Allensworth community leader and vice chair of the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board. “We’re here like sitting ducks, waiting for the water to come and flood us out.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Part of Allensworth’s problem stems from the politics of water: For over a hundred years, water in the Tulare Lake basin has been controlled and hoarded by a handful of powerful landowners, usually at the expense of everyone else. The basin’s water management system still favors those landowners, leaving Allensworth with little recourse when floodwaters approach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘I don’t need a whole bunch of people to break the law’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>That was evident one windy night in March, when Allensworth residents Takoa Kadara and his father, Kayode, called an emergency town meeting. The goal was simple: to keep the water massing in the basin from pouring into people’s homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the time, water was flowing toward town through culverts that run under railroad tracks to the east. The culverts are on private property, and the tracks that run on top of them are owned by BNSF Railway, one of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.bnsf.com/bnsf-resources/pdf/about-bnsf/fact_sheet.pdf\">top freight transportation companies in the nation (PDF)\u003c/a>. The last time community members tried to block the culverts with rocks, gravel and plywood, a BNSF employee called the police, then removed the makeshift dam they had built.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11949153\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11949153\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/011_KQED_Allensworth_05042023.jpg\" alt='A gray building with a sign out front that reads, \"Allensworth Community Center.\" A white SUV is parked in the driveway and gray clouds hover above. The road surrounding the property is visibly wet from flooding.' width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/011_KQED_Allensworth_05042023.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/011_KQED_Allensworth_05042023-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/011_KQED_Allensworth_05042023-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/011_KQED_Allensworth_05042023-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/011_KQED_Allensworth_05042023-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Allensworth Community Center. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Now the group wanted to protect the community, but knew they might be at risk of breaking the law. Residents saw only two options: act illegally, or not at all. And they couldn’t come to an agreement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you guys disagree with this solution, then let’s go home,” Kayode Kadara said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No, it’s not, ‘Let’s go home!’” his son said. “Let’s come up with another solution.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ll just say it like it is,” said one resident, who declined to give his name. “If I’m gonna break the law, I don’t need a whole bunch of people to break the law [with me]. Ten minutes? We’re gone.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Allensworth residents have tried to block the culverts legally — many, many times. But BNSF wouldn’t give them permission to do it, and so far, the town hasn’t been able to find a government agency with the power to override the corporation’s decision, or persuade it to reconsider. Their \u003ca href=\"https://sjvwater.org/whos-in-charge-agencies-deal-with-fragmented-flood-response-in-the-south-san-joaquin-valley/\">local stormwater district doesn’t have jurisdiction over the railroad’s property\u003c/a>, and representatives from several state agencies, including Caltrans, Cal Fire and the Department of Water Resources, said they couldn’t do anything either, even though community members said those agencies agreed that the water spilling through the culverts is a problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11949152\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11949152\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/015_KQED_Allensworth_05042023.jpg\" alt=\"A pile of sandbags line the perimeter of a small home. In the front yard, a blue trampoline is visible and a weathered, black mailbox sits on top of a thick piece of wood.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/015_KQED_Allensworth_05042023.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/015_KQED_Allensworth_05042023-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/015_KQED_Allensworth_05042023-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/015_KQED_Allensworth_05042023-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/015_KQED_Allensworth_05042023-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sandbags surround a home in Allensworth. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>BNSF did not respond to a request for comment, but in an \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-03-18/california-towns-frantic-fight-floods\">interview with the\u003cem> Los Angeles Times\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, a company spokesperson claimed that blocking the culverts could damage their tracks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Allensworth was put under a mandatory evacuation order back in March, the Kadaras and most of their neighbors refused to leave. Who would defend their town if they did?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The water flowing is natural,” Denise Kadara said — but, she added, it’s also determined by men who say, “This is where they want the water to go.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The history behind today’s water politics\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>To understand the power dynamics in the Tulare Lake basin — and how Allensworth ended up on the losing side of it — we have to go back to when the town was founded and Tulare Lake was still alive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11949149\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11949149\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/026_KQED_Allensworth_05042023.jpg\" alt=\"A historic sign that reads, "California's African American Pioneers." Illustrations of historic men and women are surrounded by text explaining each figure.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/026_KQED_Allensworth_05042023.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/026_KQED_Allensworth_05042023-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/026_KQED_Allensworth_05042023-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/026_KQED_Allensworth_05042023-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/026_KQED_Allensworth_05042023-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A sign with information about California’s African American historical figures sits at the entrance to Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In 1908, Lt. Col. Allen Allensworth was a formerly enslaved person who became the highest-ranking Black military officer of his time. As Jim Crow tightened its grip throughout the South, he moved to California to create what he hoped would become the “Tuskegee of the West,” a thriving Black community and college town. Founded by a dream team of Black doctors, professors and farmers, the community of Allensworth became \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11925020/promised-land-a-historically-black-california-town-honors-its-proud-painful-past-and-fights-for-its-future\">the first town in California to be founded, financed and governed by Black Americans\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Allensworth picked a spot near Tulare Lake, which used to be the largest lake west of the Mississippi. Accounts from the late 1800s describe it as shallow, thick with tule reeds and ringed by marshland. Herds of elk waded through the shallows, and millions of migratory birds flocked to its shores every year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But by the time Allensworth got there, the lake was rapidly disappearing — and had been for years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Geologists call that end of the San Joaquin Valley one of the most engineered landscapes in human history,” said Mark Arax, a journalist and expert on the Central Valley’s history and water politics. “[The] human hand has altered that land in a way that few places have been altered.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11949154\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11949154\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/005_KQED_Allensworth_05042023.jpg\" alt=\"A cargo train in the distance steams ahead next to a large dirt field that has been flooded with water. Gray clouds hover above.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/005_KQED_Allensworth_05042023.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/005_KQED_Allensworth_05042023-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/005_KQED_Allensworth_05042023-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/005_KQED_Allensworth_05042023-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/005_KQED_Allensworth_05042023-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Floodwater from Tulare Lake lingers beside train tracks. One of the main flooding threats residents face are culverts that run under the tracks, sending water straight toward the town. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The residents of Allensworth weren’t the only people who’d settled along Tulare Lake. A group of white landowners had settled there, too — some descending from slave-owning families.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Many of them were Southerners who’d come from the Confederate states,” Arax said. “They arrived here and they started grabbing the snowmelt out of those rivers, and then diverting that onto their farmland.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the 1920s, two particularly bold landowner families, the Boswells and the Salyers, made a move on the lake bed itself. The soil at the bottom was dark and unusually rich; it’d be the perfect place for a farm, if the lake weren’t in the way. So they drained it and diverted the water for irrigation. According to Arax, those diversions ended up drying up the lake completely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, Allensworth couldn’t get enough water to sustain itself, no matter how hard the community tried. White farmers diverted a river they relied on. A white-owned company refused to dig the community’s wells, but it was more than happy to dig wells for a white town nearby. By the 1920s, a lot of Allensworth’s original settlers had moved away. And by the 1940s, the white landowners in the Tulare Lake basin had become some of the most powerful farmers in the country, and had successfully seized control of the water for themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11949150\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11949150\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/021_KQED_Allensworth_05042023.jpg\" alt=\"An open field with green and tan weeds and plants sits under a gray, cloudy sky. In the center, a brown, wooden barn rests to the left of two, small white homes.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/021_KQED_Allensworth_05042023.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/021_KQED_Allensworth_05042023-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/021_KQED_Allensworth_05042023-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/021_KQED_Allensworth_05042023-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/021_KQED_Allensworth_05042023-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Historic homes and buildings fill Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Those long-established power dynamics are still at work in the region. Today, Allensworth is a farmworker town where the tap water isn’t safe to drink. Many of its neighbors are large corporations and wealthy farmers, and these neighbors control many local agencies — like water and reclamation districts — which make decisions about who gets water in dry years and what to do when the floods come.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You have these quasi government agencies, but they’re controlled by the biggest landowners,” Arax said. “It’s a no-man’s-land in a lot of ways, and that’s the way it’s operated. It resorts to its own devices all the time.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The Tulare Lake basin also has a long history of levee sabotage. Historically, when the basin has flooded, some farmers have cut levees and blocked canals to protect their land, but this also threatened the town with flooding. This is still happening today. Denise Kadara remembers getting the news from their local stormwater manager in March that a levee on the west side of town had been intentionally breached, prompting calls to evacuate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As communities like Allensworth brace for the snowmelt this spring — and the floods they know are coming — this history of water theft, sabotage and discrimination is always in the backs of their minds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although residents at that March meeting decided against blocking the railroad culverts, they haven’t stayed quiet. Allensworth’s community leaders have been calling every government official they can think of, trying to find someone who can help. And in the past few weeks, Takoa Kadara and his family say some politicians and government agencies have started to respond.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11949163\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11949163 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyTCRMAG-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A Black man with trim white hair and a white beard, wearing a gray, button-up shirt, sits at a table with a white man (the governor) dressed casually in a blue puffer vest, leaning forward with his forearms on his thighs. The two are looking at paperwork in a spare, clean, well-lit commercial room.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1706\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyTCRMAG-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyTCRMAG-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyTCRMAG-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyTCRMAG-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyTCRMAG-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyTCRMAG-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyTCRMAG-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kayode Kadara (left) shows photos to Gov. Gavin Newsom during a meeting with community leaders to talk about flood preparedness, on Tuesday, April 25, 2023, in Allensworth. \u003ccite>(Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire’s emergency response team blocked the levee that was allegedly sabotaged, as well as other breaches, saving the town from flooding. Gov. Gavin Newsom visited the community in April, and promised to send more resources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Allensworth residents are used to the system in this basin working against them, but they hope that’s finally changing. How state agencies act may be the only thing standing between Allensworth and catastrophic flooding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need all the help we can get from every agency, and every person that wants to help and believes in communities like ours,” Denise Kadara said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cb>Preparing for California’s ‘Big Melt’\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This past winter saw waves of atmospheric river storms unleash nearly unprecedented levels of rain on California. And while the storms left a multibillion-dollar trail of damage in their wake, they also finally brought about the end of a years-long drought that had gripped the Golden State. Now as we head toward summer, the water from those same winter storms is gearing up for its next act: “The Big Melt.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Guests:\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Dan Brekke, KQED editor and reporter\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Gerry D\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">í\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">az, \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> newsroom meteorologist \u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>AIDS/LifeCycle Race\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The AIDS/LifeCycle kicks off this June, and this year participants will travel from San Francisco to Santa Monica in a seven-day, 545-mile bicycle ride. We talk about the event’s history and why it has long been billed as much more than a race.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Guests:\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Tracy Evans, AIDS/LifeCycle senior director\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Tyler TerMeer, San Francisco AIDS Foundation CEO\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Something Beautiful: Youth Takeover and Mount Diablo\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This week, we have a guest host: a high schooler who is a member of KQED’s Youth Advisory Board. All week, KQED has been including young people in our programming, as part of our commitment to education and engaging with our community. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This week’s look at Something Beautiful is Mount Diablo, which is visible from most of the Bay Area. Once there, visitors can opt to picnic at the summit or hike through Rock City. Several Indigenous tribes including the Ohlone, Nisenan, and Miwok consider it sacred ground.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"title": "Preparing for California's 'Big Melt' | AIDS/LifeCycle | KQED",
"description": "Preparing for California's 'Big Melt' This past winter saw waves of atmospheric river storms unleash nearly unprecedented levels of rain on California. And while the storms left a multibillion-dollar trail of damage in their wake, they also finally brought about the end of a years-long drought that had gripped the Golden State. Now as we head toward summer, the water from those same winter storms is gearing up for its next act: "The Big Melt." Guests: Dan Brekke, KQED editor and reporter Gerry Díaz, San Francisco Chronicle newsroom meteorologist AIDS/LifeCycle Race The AIDS/LifeCycle kicks off this June, and this year",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cb>Preparing for California’s ‘Big Melt’\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This past winter saw waves of atmospheric river storms unleash nearly unprecedented levels of rain on California. And while the storms left a multibillion-dollar trail of damage in their wake, they also finally brought about the end of a years-long drought that had gripped the Golden State. Now as we head toward summer, the water from those same winter storms is gearing up for its next act: “The Big Melt.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Guests:\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Dan Brekke, KQED editor and reporter\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Gerry D\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">í\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">az, \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> newsroom meteorologist \u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>AIDS/LifeCycle Race\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The AIDS/LifeCycle kicks off this June, and this year participants will travel from San Francisco to Santa Monica in a seven-day, 545-mile bicycle ride. We talk about the event’s history and why it has long been billed as much more than a race.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Guests:\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Tracy Evans, AIDS/LifeCycle senior director\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Tyler TerMeer, San Francisco AIDS Foundation CEO\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Something Beautiful: Youth Takeover and Mount Diablo\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This week, we have a guest host: a high schooler who is a member of KQED’s Youth Advisory Board. All week, KQED has been including young people in our programming, as part of our commitment to education and engaging with our community. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This week’s look at Something Beautiful is Mount Diablo, which is visible from most of the Bay Area. Once there, visitors can opt to picnic at the summit or hike through Rock City. Several Indigenous tribes including the Ohlone, Nisenan, and Miwok consider it sacred ground.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "its-a-nightmare-dairy-farmers-struggle-to-bounce-back-from-record-floods",
"title": "‘It’s a Nightmare’: Dairy Farmers Struggle to Bounce Back From Record Floods",
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"headTitle": "‘It’s a Nightmare’: Dairy Farmers Struggle to Bounce Back From Record Floods | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Floodwaters from an overflowing Lake Success reached the Tule River next to Joseph Goni’s Tulare family dairy on March 15, in the middle of the night, much faster than he had expected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Goni and his fiancee woke up, the water was at their front door. By the time his sister and brother-in-law, who also lived on the farm, pulled their children out of their home in pajamas, 2 to 3 feet of water was rushing everywhere, impossible to stop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Goni choked up recently as he and Roberto Martinez, a 30-year employee, recounted how floodwaters nearly washed away the dairy three generations of his family had built.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11946960\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.26.03-PM.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11946960\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.26.03-PM-800x529.png\" alt=\"Empty cow stalls on a farm.\" width=\"800\" height=\"529\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.26.03-PM-800x529.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.26.03-PM-1020x674.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.26.03-PM-160x106.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.26.03-PM.png 1120w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Empty cow stalls on Lerda-Goni Farms outside Tulare on March 23, 2023. The stalls were emptied after floodwater submerged the farm after a series of storms. \u003ccite>(Larry Valenzuela/CalMatters/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It started with us,” Goni said of the gushing water. “Then we started hearing about it moving toward Corcoran. And it was just one dairy after the other, after the other.”[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Anja Raudabaugh, CEO, Western United Dairies\"]‘This was an unmitigated disaster. I don’t know how to plan for a river. It’s a nightmare.’[/pullquote]Over 72 hours, Goni, Martinez and dozens of neighbors and livestock haulers who arrived with trucks and trailers frantically herded some 2,400 cows and heifers into trailers in the dark. Even with weeks of planning, moving a few hundred head would have been difficult; moving this many in floodwaters was a nightmare, the men said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11946961\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.26.12-PM.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11946961\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.26.12-PM-800x531.png\" alt=\"A man wearing a beige shirt, dark long sleeve shirt and suspenders stands in a empty cow stall.\" width=\"800\" height=\"531\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.26.12-PM-800x531.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.26.12-PM-1020x677.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.26.12-PM-160x106.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.26.12-PM.png 1124w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Roberto Martinez, a long-time employee of Lerda-Goni Farms, stands in the empty cow stalls on the farm on March 23, 2023. \u003ccite>(Larry Valenzuela/CalMatters/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The cows went to six area dairies that were on safer ground, and Goni said he was overwhelmed by his community’s support. Goni remembers joking he would understand if workers left.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have to fight,” Martinez said, adding that Goni’s father, who died last year, would have wanted them to. “We can’t lose everything because of this week.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thousands of San Joaquin Valley farmers, workers and residents are coping with acres of floodwaters and muck, tallying the damage. One industry official estimated $20 billion in losses for \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/Statistics/PDFs/2022_Ag_Stats_Review.pdf\">dairy, California’s No. 1 agricultural industry (PDF)\u003c/a>, generating $7 billion in revenue statewide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some who lost homes also fear losing weeks or months of income. After months of atmospheric rivers, storms and record floods, the long-dry Tulare Lake is rising again from the San Joaquin Valley floor. It will be fed, experts said, by a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2023/03/california-storm-reservoirs-flooding/\">historic snowpack\u003c/a> melting in the Sierra Nevada.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Will California be ready?\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11946962\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.26.22-PM.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11946962\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.26.22-PM-800x528.png\" alt=\"Pieces of a drainage pipe in a large body of water.\" width=\"800\" height=\"528\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.26.22-PM-800x528.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.26.22-PM-1020x673.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.26.22-PM-160x106.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.26.22-PM-1536x1013.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.26.22-PM.png 1540w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pieces of canal drainage pipes that were swept away down the canal after a flood hit the area on March 23, 2023. \u003ccite>(Larry Valenzuela/CalMatters/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>So far, the track record for state and local emergency response has been mixed, especially in the San Joaquin Valley, where local agencies have struggled to mediate conflicts between landowners and flooded communities, and where state officials have yet to clarify their oversight role.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Farmers, workers and residents in several flooded communities complained that it took weeks for the state to gain federal help through a disaster designation. Even with that, many farmworkers won’t qualify for federal cash assistance because they are undocumented.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said some people could receive help through local partnerships using the state’s Rapid Response Fund. The state has not announced which local partners it was funding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State officials said they are bolstering infrastructure, such as levees and canals, and \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/cal_oes/status/1646612910494613508?s=46&t=pV4TRXLqzax8nmQ5Vj0zTg\">raising some roads\u003c/a> while coordinating with agencies to help people cope with floods and prepare for possible evacuations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brian Ferguson, spokesperson for the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, said state officials have been meeting with emergency managers for each affected region, coordinating area-specific evacuation plans and flood prevention measures, trying to get everyone on the same page.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re paying particular attention to the Tulare basin because there’s already so much water in the system and that’s where the snowpack is really concentrated,” he said. “Humans, in many cases, are the hardest part of any disaster to control.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of the country’s biggest farms operate in this region. Tulare, Kern and Kings counties are top-producing dairy counties in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://calmatters-tulare-lake-dairies.netlify.app/#amp=1\" width=\"800\" height=\"700\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Tulare Lake basin’s vast farmland had suffered a severe drought, like most of California. Now floodwaters envelope it, looking like an inland sea when winds whip waves over swallowed houses, farms and rural Highway 43.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nearly all of the four rivers, countless creeks and \u003ca href=\"https://www.csustan.edu/sites/default/files/groups/Geography/Images/tulare2cj.pdf\">thousands of miles of canals linked to Tulare Lake (PDF)\u003c/a> are swollen and at capacity. The valley ground has soaked up so much water that every passing rainstorm floods yards and asphalt roads, even in urban centers like Bakersfield and Fresno.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11946963\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 728px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.37.16-PM.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11946963\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.37.16-PM.png\" alt=\"A flooded road.\" width=\"728\" height=\"468\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.37.16-PM.png 728w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.37.16-PM-160x103.png 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 728px) 100vw, 728px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dairy Avenue flooded with water near Hansen Ranches south of Corcoran, on March 22, 2023. \u003ccite>(Larry Valenzuela/CalMatters/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It’s a very important reminder that California is not well-equipped to handle these extreme wet-weather events,” said Tricia Stever Blattler, executive director of the Tulare County Farm Bureau. “The message that we would like our California Legislature to hear is it’s never too soon to make better investments in infrastructure.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Biden \u003ca href=\"https://www.fema.gov/disaster/4699\">administration declared California’s second major disaster of the year\u003c/a> on April 3, deploying the Federal Emergency Management Agency and allowing several counties, including Tulare and Kern, to apply for additional federal assistance. Because of the declaration, \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdss.ca.gov/Portals/9/CAFSP/CalFresh/CalFresh_Disaster/D-CF-PlanApproval.pdf\">families and residents in seven counties can apply for Disaster CalFresh food benefits (PDF)\u003c/a>, the state announced Friday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though Kings County had 47,000 acres of farmland flooded, according to the California Farm Bureau’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.agalert.com/california-ag-news/archives/april-5-2023/farmers-brace-for-more-destruction-losses-from-floods/\">online publication\u003c/a>, that county was not included in the latest emergency declaration. State officials said it could be added later. Kings County officials told The Fresno Bee that \u003ca href=\"https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article273965735.html\">flooding will ruin 41% of the county’s $2.43 billion crop value\u003c/a> and cause another $1 billion in damages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/3.28.23-Major-Disaster-Declaration-request.pdf?emrc=c00780\">California’s request for the declaration (PDF)\u003c/a>, Newsom’s office estimated $60 million in agricultural losses in Tulare County and $70 million in Kern Counties alone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California dairy industry leaders say their losses are going to be much larger. Western United Dairies CEO Anja Raudabaugh said their network is bracing for $20 billion in losses and long-term supply chain disruptions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to evacuation costs and property damage, dairy farmers are estimating millions of dollars in losses from silage they had stored and crops they were growing to feed their cows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If there is not enough feed, she said, farmers might have to start culling cows and shrinking their dairy operations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Already 75,000 cows and 15 large dairies have moved due to flooding. With major dairy processing centers like Tulare County impacted, the economic loss could be staggering, Raudabaugh said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s not a single dairy that could have envisioned this type of catastrophe,” she said. “This was an unmitigated disaster. I don’t know how to plan for a river. It’s a nightmare.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Add to that the brief closure of the Lactalis Heritage Dairy Kraft Foods plant, which processes some of the Tulare region’s dairy products. Its damage and floodwaters were visible from Highway 99.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than half of California’s farmworkers, about 200,000, live in the Central Valley. Thousands are losing work and wages. Several towns and rural communities of color also are struggling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The reality is the Central Valley has a lot of front-line communities that have borne the impacts of climate and weather extremes, whether it’s drought, smoke, flood,” said John Abatzoglou, climatology professor at the University of California, Merced. “Unfortunately, they have not had the resources to prepare for these extreme events, and that’s why they’re vulnerable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Preparing for snowmelt and ‘water jiujitsu’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Several regions could experience higher-than-usual flood risk from snowmelt, experts said, but the Tulare Basin’s reservoirs are smaller than the central and northern Sierra reservoirs so they hold much less water, Abatzoglou said. It’s an unfortunate mismatch with the high \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/newsletters/whatmatters/2023/04/california-gun-laws-seizures/\">snowpack in the southern Sierra\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite intermittent flooding over the years, the region’s levees, canals and dams may not be able to handle such large and rapid water flows, experts said. Floodwaters in some areas are \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/water/2023/02/california-depleted-groundwater-storms/\">not sinking into the ground\u003c/a>, recharging underground water stores.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We just don’t have the systems in play to put water in places where you can really get a lot of groundwater recharge while minimizing the impacts to communities and agriculture,” Abatzoglou said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think a year like this, hopefully, will be a catalyst for the state to find ways to be more resilient to climate variability and the extremes of climate change — because this is not likely to be the last rodeo that we’re gonna go through.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ferguson, the state emergency services spokesperson, said the current break in storms is giving emergency management officials a rare chance to prepare for the possible coming disaster.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They are assessing potential toxic hazards from agricultural or oil sites in the flood path, he said, so they can prevent contaminating nearby farmland or waterways. For example, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kvpr.org/local-news/2023-04-07/compost-facility-holding-human-waste-in-cross-hairs-of-tulare-lake-flooding\">officials may build a dam around a waste treatment plant run\u003c/a> by the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts in Kings County, according to a KVPR news report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’re also reaching out to underserved communities to help people access emergency information in their dominant languages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And state officials are working with local water managers and county emergency personnel, planning for worst-case scenarios, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It may be that this water is not such that there are enough sandbags, or you can’t physically stop it,” Ferguson said. “You might be doing water jiujitsu to move it, to flow with it, as opposed to trying to physically stop it … to move it in the smartest possible way to keep as many people safe as possible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That may involve finagling a compromise from local agencies and land owners who have been working at cross purposes. In Kings, Kern and Tulare counties decisions about handling floodwaters have devolved into local tugs-of-war, with individual farmers influencing where waters go.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a local conflict that made national headlines, the historic Black town of Allensworth, nearby Alpaugh, and farmers along the Tulare Lake bed were flooded after a large landowner refused to allow his property to flood. As Allensworth residents pleaded for official intervention and scrambled to save their community, SJV Water, a nonprofit newsroom, reported that \u003ca href=\"https://sjvwater.org/poso-creek-water-ends-standoff-with-powerful-the-j-g-boswell-when-it-busts-through-berms-heads-north/\">the landowner had placed heavy farming equipment in the way of a water manager’s efforts to use the farmer’s private canal\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The creek recently burst into the canal anyway, after it also overflowed a bridge and a road.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State officials have been coordinating with local emergency forces to shore up levees and distribute sandbags.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although state officials are exploring options for taking a more active role in managing floodwaters, local authorities have the jurisdiction to determine where floodwaters go, said Karla Nemeth, director of the Department of Water Resources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Several communities in southern San Joaquin Valley had opted out of the Central Valley Flood Protection Plan, so the ultimate authority over where water goes — and whose property floods — can reside with county officials, small flood districts and even individual property owners.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At the moment all of those issues need to be addressed at the local level,” Nemeth said. “We are checking into our state authorities on flood management kinds of decisions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The governor’s office recently issued an executive order that temporarily waives several state codes related to environmental protections around the Tulare Lake basin. But the order doesn’t allow state officials to step in and arbitrate these conflicts, a governor’s spokesperson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Dairies stay on high alert\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The Goni family has begun rebuilding their dairy. Their employees and cows are back and production is slowly restarting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not everyone has been able to recover. Some dairies and farmland in the Corcoran area still are covered with water. Raudabaugh said two large dairies have closed or relocated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Coordination among local and state emergency resources has improved since those first two weeks, when industry leaders were fielding panicked calls from farmers, Raudabaugh said. She said she hopes they’ll be ready for the next round of flooding when the snowpack melts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11946965\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.37.39-PM.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11946965\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.37.39-PM-800x533.png\" alt=\"A white man wearing a dark hat and a brown jacket stands near a field and body of water.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.37.39-PM-800x533.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.37.39-PM-1020x679.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.37.39-PM-160x107.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.37.39-PM-1536x1023.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.37.39-PM.png 1538w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Stephen Mancebo stands near a canal by his farmland in Tulare County on March 23, 2023. \u003ccite>(Larry Valenzuela/CalMatters/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Stephen Mancebo, a relative of Goni’s whose dairy is a few miles down the road, was among those who rushed to help Goni and hosted some of his cows. He said the lack of infrastructure exacerbated the disaster.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we could have put more water storage in place, bigger and better infrastructure, more sinking basins, when we got this flood it wouldn’t have been near as bad to those guys on the west side,” said Mancebo, a board member of the Land O’ Lakes dairy co-op.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve avoided putting money into infrastructure. And I know the governor and nobody else wants to hear that, because they really like showing up to be the hero, and it’s more reactive than proactive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mancebo had to make other quick decisions that week. The canal linked to Lake Kaweah crossing his property began overflowing into fields where he grew winter wheat for his dairy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many farmers and residents, rushing to protect their property, built berms to keep the water out. He knew if he did that, too, the water would have flooded another dairy down the road and some neighboring homes. His dairy was safe on higher ground, but he didn’t try to stop the water from flooding his fields.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Standing on the banks of the Tule River and later the ditch outside his own dairy in late March, Mancebo pointed out where the river burst through the levee protecting Goni’s dairy and had ripped out large metal drainage pipes, and where water had flooded his own fields, leaving a layer of silt and debris.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Debris could clog the canal where it flows under the road, he said, and could cause flooding risks over the next few months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everybody is just going to have to stay on high alert,“ he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A “domino effect” of damage to dairies and farmers has already begun, he said, with owners laying off workers because they have no work for them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s why I have a really hard time talking about this or feeling sorry for a couple hundred acres, you know?” Mancebo said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Getting financial help to farm laborers could be a challenge. Dairies employ higher numbers of undocumented workers than other agricultural industries, which hire workers from a federal visa program for seasonal workers. Dairies operate year-round.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A Cutler resident shovel mud off his driveway in Cutler on March 12, 2023. The area was recently flooded after the levee in the area was breached during a series of storms that hit the Central Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘We couldn’t save anything’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Small communities in the Central Valley, especially on the eastern edge of Tulare County near the mountains, have flooded repeatedly this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Cutler and Orosi, two towns in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kvpr.org/local-news/2023-03-16/131-homes-affected-by-flooding-at-a-small-tulare-county-community-help-is-available\">more than 131 homes flooded in mid-March\u003c/a>, after water breached an overwhelmed canal in eight places and left many homes uninhabitable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Weeks after his home in Cutler flooded, Victor Cabrera said he still didn’t have heat or hot water. He was able to use a space heater by running an electrical cord from a neighbor’s house on higher ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The house next to Cabrera sustained so much damage it was condemned, and his neighbors were forced to relocate, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s been rough on us,” Cabrera said, referring to his neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many of the hardest-hit families in Cutler lived in the Tulare County Housing Authority homes near a flooded canal. Residents pleaded for help at \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8f6EpqzvVbE\">a recent Tulare County Board of Supervisors meeting\u003c/a>, saying the destruction left behind was unsafe for children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Juanita Martinez cried during her testimony, saying her 9-year-old son fears the canal would break again if they return home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We couldn’t save anything,” she said during the meeting. “I’m in tears. I’m frustrated. I don’t know what to do anymore.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The housing authority transferred Martinez’s family to a home in Dinuba, but she told CalMatters her application for federal disaster aid was rejected. Many families who don’t qualify for aid still need help, she said; plus, who is going to fix the canal?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t want the money,” Martinez said. “We just want the canal fixed. We’re afraid it’s going to happen again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11946967\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.38.08-PM.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11946967\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.38.08-PM-800x528.png\" alt=\"A woman holds a broom while looking at a room with chairs and other materials stacked up.\" width=\"800\" height=\"528\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.38.08-PM-800x528.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.38.08-PM-1020x673.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.38.08-PM-160x106.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.38.08-PM-1536x1014.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.38.08-PM-2048x1352.png 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.38.08-PM-1920x1268.png 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Christina Cabrera cleaning out the water and mud in her family home after a series of storms on March 12, 2023. Cabrera, who shares the home with her brother Victor Cabrera, said that the home has been in her family for decades and hopes to salvage it. \u003ccite>(Larry Valenzuela/CalMatters/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "After weeks of rain, the long-dry Tulare Lake is rising from the San Joaquin Valley floor, endangering farms, towns, livelihoods. Now record snow on the Sierra Nevada is melting. Will the Central Valley be ready?",
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"title": "‘It’s a Nightmare’: Dairy Farmers Struggle to Bounce Back From Record Floods | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Floodwaters from an overflowing Lake Success reached the Tule River next to Joseph Goni’s Tulare family dairy on March 15, in the middle of the night, much faster than he had expected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Goni and his fiancee woke up, the water was at their front door. By the time his sister and brother-in-law, who also lived on the farm, pulled their children out of their home in pajamas, 2 to 3 feet of water was rushing everywhere, impossible to stop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Goni choked up recently as he and Roberto Martinez, a 30-year employee, recounted how floodwaters nearly washed away the dairy three generations of his family had built.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11946960\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.26.03-PM.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11946960\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.26.03-PM-800x529.png\" alt=\"Empty cow stalls on a farm.\" width=\"800\" height=\"529\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.26.03-PM-800x529.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.26.03-PM-1020x674.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.26.03-PM-160x106.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.26.03-PM.png 1120w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Empty cow stalls on Lerda-Goni Farms outside Tulare on March 23, 2023. The stalls were emptied after floodwater submerged the farm after a series of storms. \u003ccite>(Larry Valenzuela/CalMatters/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It started with us,” Goni said of the gushing water. “Then we started hearing about it moving toward Corcoran. And it was just one dairy after the other, after the other.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘This was an unmitigated disaster. I don’t know how to plan for a river. It’s a nightmare.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Over 72 hours, Goni, Martinez and dozens of neighbors and livestock haulers who arrived with trucks and trailers frantically herded some 2,400 cows and heifers into trailers in the dark. Even with weeks of planning, moving a few hundred head would have been difficult; moving this many in floodwaters was a nightmare, the men said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11946961\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.26.12-PM.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11946961\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.26.12-PM-800x531.png\" alt=\"A man wearing a beige shirt, dark long sleeve shirt and suspenders stands in a empty cow stall.\" width=\"800\" height=\"531\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.26.12-PM-800x531.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.26.12-PM-1020x677.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.26.12-PM-160x106.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.26.12-PM.png 1124w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Roberto Martinez, a long-time employee of Lerda-Goni Farms, stands in the empty cow stalls on the farm on March 23, 2023. \u003ccite>(Larry Valenzuela/CalMatters/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The cows went to six area dairies that were on safer ground, and Goni said he was overwhelmed by his community’s support. Goni remembers joking he would understand if workers left.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have to fight,” Martinez said, adding that Goni’s father, who died last year, would have wanted them to. “We can’t lose everything because of this week.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thousands of San Joaquin Valley farmers, workers and residents are coping with acres of floodwaters and muck, tallying the damage. One industry official estimated $20 billion in losses for \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/Statistics/PDFs/2022_Ag_Stats_Review.pdf\">dairy, California’s No. 1 agricultural industry (PDF)\u003c/a>, generating $7 billion in revenue statewide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some who lost homes also fear losing weeks or months of income. After months of atmospheric rivers, storms and record floods, the long-dry Tulare Lake is rising again from the San Joaquin Valley floor. It will be fed, experts said, by a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2023/03/california-storm-reservoirs-flooding/\">historic snowpack\u003c/a> melting in the Sierra Nevada.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Will California be ready?\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11946962\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.26.22-PM.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11946962\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.26.22-PM-800x528.png\" alt=\"Pieces of a drainage pipe in a large body of water.\" width=\"800\" height=\"528\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.26.22-PM-800x528.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.26.22-PM-1020x673.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.26.22-PM-160x106.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.26.22-PM-1536x1013.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.26.22-PM.png 1540w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pieces of canal drainage pipes that were swept away down the canal after a flood hit the area on March 23, 2023. \u003ccite>(Larry Valenzuela/CalMatters/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>So far, the track record for state and local emergency response has been mixed, especially in the San Joaquin Valley, where local agencies have struggled to mediate conflicts between landowners and flooded communities, and where state officials have yet to clarify their oversight role.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Farmers, workers and residents in several flooded communities complained that it took weeks for the state to gain federal help through a disaster designation. Even with that, many farmworkers won’t qualify for federal cash assistance because they are undocumented.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said some people could receive help through local partnerships using the state’s Rapid Response Fund. The state has not announced which local partners it was funding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State officials said they are bolstering infrastructure, such as levees and canals, and \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/cal_oes/status/1646612910494613508?s=46&t=pV4TRXLqzax8nmQ5Vj0zTg\">raising some roads\u003c/a> while coordinating with agencies to help people cope with floods and prepare for possible evacuations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brian Ferguson, spokesperson for the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, said state officials have been meeting with emergency managers for each affected region, coordinating area-specific evacuation plans and flood prevention measures, trying to get everyone on the same page.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re paying particular attention to the Tulare basin because there’s already so much water in the system and that’s where the snowpack is really concentrated,” he said. “Humans, in many cases, are the hardest part of any disaster to control.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of the country’s biggest farms operate in this region. Tulare, Kern and Kings counties are top-producing dairy counties in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://calmatters-tulare-lake-dairies.netlify.app/#amp=1\" width=\"800\" height=\"700\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Tulare Lake basin’s vast farmland had suffered a severe drought, like most of California. Now floodwaters envelope it, looking like an inland sea when winds whip waves over swallowed houses, farms and rural Highway 43.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nearly all of the four rivers, countless creeks and \u003ca href=\"https://www.csustan.edu/sites/default/files/groups/Geography/Images/tulare2cj.pdf\">thousands of miles of canals linked to Tulare Lake (PDF)\u003c/a> are swollen and at capacity. The valley ground has soaked up so much water that every passing rainstorm floods yards and asphalt roads, even in urban centers like Bakersfield and Fresno.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11946963\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 728px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.37.16-PM.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11946963\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.37.16-PM.png\" alt=\"A flooded road.\" width=\"728\" height=\"468\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.37.16-PM.png 728w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.37.16-PM-160x103.png 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 728px) 100vw, 728px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dairy Avenue flooded with water near Hansen Ranches south of Corcoran, on March 22, 2023. \u003ccite>(Larry Valenzuela/CalMatters/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It’s a very important reminder that California is not well-equipped to handle these extreme wet-weather events,” said Tricia Stever Blattler, executive director of the Tulare County Farm Bureau. “The message that we would like our California Legislature to hear is it’s never too soon to make better investments in infrastructure.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Biden \u003ca href=\"https://www.fema.gov/disaster/4699\">administration declared California’s second major disaster of the year\u003c/a> on April 3, deploying the Federal Emergency Management Agency and allowing several counties, including Tulare and Kern, to apply for additional federal assistance. Because of the declaration, \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdss.ca.gov/Portals/9/CAFSP/CalFresh/CalFresh_Disaster/D-CF-PlanApproval.pdf\">families and residents in seven counties can apply for Disaster CalFresh food benefits (PDF)\u003c/a>, the state announced Friday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though Kings County had 47,000 acres of farmland flooded, according to the California Farm Bureau’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.agalert.com/california-ag-news/archives/april-5-2023/farmers-brace-for-more-destruction-losses-from-floods/\">online publication\u003c/a>, that county was not included in the latest emergency declaration. State officials said it could be added later. Kings County officials told The Fresno Bee that \u003ca href=\"https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article273965735.html\">flooding will ruin 41% of the county’s $2.43 billion crop value\u003c/a> and cause another $1 billion in damages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/3.28.23-Major-Disaster-Declaration-request.pdf?emrc=c00780\">California’s request for the declaration (PDF)\u003c/a>, Newsom’s office estimated $60 million in agricultural losses in Tulare County and $70 million in Kern Counties alone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California dairy industry leaders say their losses are going to be much larger. Western United Dairies CEO Anja Raudabaugh said their network is bracing for $20 billion in losses and long-term supply chain disruptions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to evacuation costs and property damage, dairy farmers are estimating millions of dollars in losses from silage they had stored and crops they were growing to feed their cows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If there is not enough feed, she said, farmers might have to start culling cows and shrinking their dairy operations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Already 75,000 cows and 15 large dairies have moved due to flooding. With major dairy processing centers like Tulare County impacted, the economic loss could be staggering, Raudabaugh said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s not a single dairy that could have envisioned this type of catastrophe,” she said. “This was an unmitigated disaster. I don’t know how to plan for a river. It’s a nightmare.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Add to that the brief closure of the Lactalis Heritage Dairy Kraft Foods plant, which processes some of the Tulare region’s dairy products. Its damage and floodwaters were visible from Highway 99.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than half of California’s farmworkers, about 200,000, live in the Central Valley. Thousands are losing work and wages. Several towns and rural communities of color also are struggling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The reality is the Central Valley has a lot of front-line communities that have borne the impacts of climate and weather extremes, whether it’s drought, smoke, flood,” said John Abatzoglou, climatology professor at the University of California, Merced. “Unfortunately, they have not had the resources to prepare for these extreme events, and that’s why they’re vulnerable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Preparing for snowmelt and ‘water jiujitsu’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Several regions could experience higher-than-usual flood risk from snowmelt, experts said, but the Tulare Basin’s reservoirs are smaller than the central and northern Sierra reservoirs so they hold much less water, Abatzoglou said. It’s an unfortunate mismatch with the high \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/newsletters/whatmatters/2023/04/california-gun-laws-seizures/\">snowpack in the southern Sierra\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite intermittent flooding over the years, the region’s levees, canals and dams may not be able to handle such large and rapid water flows, experts said. Floodwaters in some areas are \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/water/2023/02/california-depleted-groundwater-storms/\">not sinking into the ground\u003c/a>, recharging underground water stores.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We just don’t have the systems in play to put water in places where you can really get a lot of groundwater recharge while minimizing the impacts to communities and agriculture,” Abatzoglou said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think a year like this, hopefully, will be a catalyst for the state to find ways to be more resilient to climate variability and the extremes of climate change — because this is not likely to be the last rodeo that we’re gonna go through.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ferguson, the state emergency services spokesperson, said the current break in storms is giving emergency management officials a rare chance to prepare for the possible coming disaster.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They are assessing potential toxic hazards from agricultural or oil sites in the flood path, he said, so they can prevent contaminating nearby farmland or waterways. For example, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kvpr.org/local-news/2023-04-07/compost-facility-holding-human-waste-in-cross-hairs-of-tulare-lake-flooding\">officials may build a dam around a waste treatment plant run\u003c/a> by the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts in Kings County, according to a KVPR news report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’re also reaching out to underserved communities to help people access emergency information in their dominant languages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And state officials are working with local water managers and county emergency personnel, planning for worst-case scenarios, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It may be that this water is not such that there are enough sandbags, or you can’t physically stop it,” Ferguson said. “You might be doing water jiujitsu to move it, to flow with it, as opposed to trying to physically stop it … to move it in the smartest possible way to keep as many people safe as possible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That may involve finagling a compromise from local agencies and land owners who have been working at cross purposes. In Kings, Kern and Tulare counties decisions about handling floodwaters have devolved into local tugs-of-war, with individual farmers influencing where waters go.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a local conflict that made national headlines, the historic Black town of Allensworth, nearby Alpaugh, and farmers along the Tulare Lake bed were flooded after a large landowner refused to allow his property to flood. As Allensworth residents pleaded for official intervention and scrambled to save their community, SJV Water, a nonprofit newsroom, reported that \u003ca href=\"https://sjvwater.org/poso-creek-water-ends-standoff-with-powerful-the-j-g-boswell-when-it-busts-through-berms-heads-north/\">the landowner had placed heavy farming equipment in the way of a water manager’s efforts to use the farmer’s private canal\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The creek recently burst into the canal anyway, after it also overflowed a bridge and a road.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State officials have been coordinating with local emergency forces to shore up levees and distribute sandbags.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although state officials are exploring options for taking a more active role in managing floodwaters, local authorities have the jurisdiction to determine where floodwaters go, said Karla Nemeth, director of the Department of Water Resources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Several communities in southern San Joaquin Valley had opted out of the Central Valley Flood Protection Plan, so the ultimate authority over where water goes — and whose property floods — can reside with county officials, small flood districts and even individual property owners.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At the moment all of those issues need to be addressed at the local level,” Nemeth said. “We are checking into our state authorities on flood management kinds of decisions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The governor’s office recently issued an executive order that temporarily waives several state codes related to environmental protections around the Tulare Lake basin. But the order doesn’t allow state officials to step in and arbitrate these conflicts, a governor’s spokesperson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Dairies stay on high alert\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The Goni family has begun rebuilding their dairy. Their employees and cows are back and production is slowly restarting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not everyone has been able to recover. Some dairies and farmland in the Corcoran area still are covered with water. Raudabaugh said two large dairies have closed or relocated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Coordination among local and state emergency resources has improved since those first two weeks, when industry leaders were fielding panicked calls from farmers, Raudabaugh said. She said she hopes they’ll be ready for the next round of flooding when the snowpack melts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11946965\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.37.39-PM.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11946965\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.37.39-PM-800x533.png\" alt=\"A white man wearing a dark hat and a brown jacket stands near a field and body of water.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.37.39-PM-800x533.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.37.39-PM-1020x679.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.37.39-PM-160x107.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.37.39-PM-1536x1023.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.37.39-PM.png 1538w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Stephen Mancebo stands near a canal by his farmland in Tulare County on March 23, 2023. \u003ccite>(Larry Valenzuela/CalMatters/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Stephen Mancebo, a relative of Goni’s whose dairy is a few miles down the road, was among those who rushed to help Goni and hosted some of his cows. He said the lack of infrastructure exacerbated the disaster.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we could have put more water storage in place, bigger and better infrastructure, more sinking basins, when we got this flood it wouldn’t have been near as bad to those guys on the west side,” said Mancebo, a board member of the Land O’ Lakes dairy co-op.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve avoided putting money into infrastructure. And I know the governor and nobody else wants to hear that, because they really like showing up to be the hero, and it’s more reactive than proactive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mancebo had to make other quick decisions that week. The canal linked to Lake Kaweah crossing his property began overflowing into fields where he grew winter wheat for his dairy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many farmers and residents, rushing to protect their property, built berms to keep the water out. He knew if he did that, too, the water would have flooded another dairy down the road and some neighboring homes. His dairy was safe on higher ground, but he didn’t try to stop the water from flooding his fields.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Standing on the banks of the Tule River and later the ditch outside his own dairy in late March, Mancebo pointed out where the river burst through the levee protecting Goni’s dairy and had ripped out large metal drainage pipes, and where water had flooded his own fields, leaving a layer of silt and debris.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Debris could clog the canal where it flows under the road, he said, and could cause flooding risks over the next few months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everybody is just going to have to stay on high alert,“ he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A “domino effect” of damage to dairies and farmers has already begun, he said, with owners laying off workers because they have no work for them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s why I have a really hard time talking about this or feeling sorry for a couple hundred acres, you know?” Mancebo said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Getting financial help to farm laborers could be a challenge. Dairies employ higher numbers of undocumented workers than other agricultural industries, which hire workers from a federal visa program for seasonal workers. Dairies operate year-round.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A Cutler resident shovel mud off his driveway in Cutler on March 12, 2023. The area was recently flooded after the levee in the area was breached during a series of storms that hit the Central Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘We couldn’t save anything’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Small communities in the Central Valley, especially on the eastern edge of Tulare County near the mountains, have flooded repeatedly this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Cutler and Orosi, two towns in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kvpr.org/local-news/2023-03-16/131-homes-affected-by-flooding-at-a-small-tulare-county-community-help-is-available\">more than 131 homes flooded in mid-March\u003c/a>, after water breached an overwhelmed canal in eight places and left many homes uninhabitable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Weeks after his home in Cutler flooded, Victor Cabrera said he still didn’t have heat or hot water. He was able to use a space heater by running an electrical cord from a neighbor’s house on higher ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The house next to Cabrera sustained so much damage it was condemned, and his neighbors were forced to relocate, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s been rough on us,” Cabrera said, referring to his neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many of the hardest-hit families in Cutler lived in the Tulare County Housing Authority homes near a flooded canal. Residents pleaded for help at \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8f6EpqzvVbE\">a recent Tulare County Board of Supervisors meeting\u003c/a>, saying the destruction left behind was unsafe for children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Juanita Martinez cried during her testimony, saying her 9-year-old son fears the canal would break again if they return home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We couldn’t save anything,” she said during the meeting. “I’m in tears. I’m frustrated. I don’t know what to do anymore.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The housing authority transferred Martinez’s family to a home in Dinuba, but she told CalMatters her application for federal disaster aid was rejected. Many families who don’t qualify for aid still need help, she said; plus, who is going to fix the canal?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t want the money,” Martinez said. “We just want the canal fixed. We’re afraid it’s going to happen again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11946967\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.38.08-PM.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11946967\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.38.08-PM-800x528.png\" alt=\"A woman holds a broom while looking at a room with chairs and other materials stacked up.\" width=\"800\" height=\"528\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.38.08-PM-800x528.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.38.08-PM-1020x673.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.38.08-PM-160x106.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.38.08-PM-1536x1014.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.38.08-PM-2048x1352.png 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-17-at-12.38.08-PM-1920x1268.png 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Christina Cabrera cleaning out the water and mud in her family home after a series of storms on March 12, 2023. Cabrera, who shares the home with her brother Victor Cabrera, said that the home has been in her family for decades and hopes to salvage it. \u003ccite>(Larry Valenzuela/CalMatters/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"order": 10
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"id": "city-arts",
"title": "City Arts & Lectures",
"info": "A one-hour radio program to hear celebrated writers, artists and thinkers address contemporary ideas and values, often discussing the creative process. Please note: tapes or transcripts are not available",
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"airtime": "SUN 1pm-2pm, TUE 10pm, WED 1am",
"meta": {
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"source": "City Arts & Lectures"
},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
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"rss": "https://www.cityarts.net/feed/"
}
},
"closealltabs": {
"id": "closealltabs",
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"order": 1
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"title": "Code Switch / Life Kit",
"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
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"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"order": 9
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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"meta": {
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
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},
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"id": "fresh-air",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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"hidden-brain": {
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"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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"how-i-built-this": {
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"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
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"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"order": 15
},
"link": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/2p3Fifq96nw9BPcmFdIq0o?si=39209f7b25774f38",
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
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"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
"meta": {
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},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
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"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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"meta": {
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"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
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"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
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},
"on-the-media": {
"id": "on-the-media",
"title": "On The Media",
"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm-3pm, MON 12am-1am",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/onTheMedia.png",
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"meta": {
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"source": "wnyc"
},
"link": "/radio/program/on-the-media",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/on-the-media/id73330715?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/On-the-Media-p69/",
"rss": "http://feeds.wnyc.org/onthemedia"
}
},
"pbs-newshour": {
"id": "pbs-newshour",
"title": "PBS NewsHour",
"info": "Analysis, background reports and updates from the PBS NewsHour putting today's news in context.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/PBS-News-Hour-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"source": "pbs"
},
"link": "/radio/program/pbs-newshour",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pbs-newshour-full-show/id394432287?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/PBS-NewsHour---Full-Show-p425698/",
"rss": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/feeds/rss/podcasts/show"
}
},
"perspectives": {
"id": "perspectives",
"title": "Perspectives",
"tagline": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991",
"info": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991.",
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"order": 14
},
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