Esteban Sepulveda holds his dog Milo while leaving his home in Pajaro Valley, Calif. on Sunday March 12, 2023.
The waters will be rising again, and the worries are mounting.
Dozens of Monterey County residents who packed up their lives after fleeing Pajaro River floodwaters spent Sunday sheltering at evacuation centers, thumbing through piles of hand-me-down clothing, filling up with plates of warm food — and fretting about the future.
Pajaro residents Lucia Mendoza and her husband, Francisco Curiel, had been jolted awake at 1 a.m. Saturday by wailing police sirens and voices over loudspeakers warning of a coming flood and urging evacuation.