They urge anyone who is considering water-based recreation in or around moving water to use extreme caution. Water levels around the state are very high, so there is a possibility of strong currents and hazardous debris in rivers and streams, DEEP warns, and they are advising anyone who is considering getting on or in rivers and streams to wait until water levels go down. They are also urging people not to swim, fish or use paddlecraft in these areas. The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and the Connecticut Department of Public Health are urging people not to have direct contact with surface water in areas in close proximity to drainage pipes statewide, particularly in urban areas such as Bridgeport, Hartford, Waterbury, Middletown, Meriden, Wallingford, Stamford, Norwalk, Norwich, and the greater New Haven area within 48 hours of the end of the rainfall in Connecticut's streams and rivers. “There is no way we are going to get what we had planned for.Because of all the rain, many areas across the state have experienced discharges of untreated sewage. “It’s too soon to know the full impact of this,” he said. In the peak of the summer, Bjorn said most of the strawberries in the country come from this region. But with about 900 acres (364 hectares) under water in the Pajaro Valley and another 600 acres (243 hectares) flooded in nearby Salinas, Bjorn said the potential impact is significant, especially as farmers not only face the challenge of mud-soaked plants but also damaged equipment. Right now, farmers can’t even access the fields, because roads are covered in water. In the Pajaro Valley, farmers did their planting last fall so the berries would hit stores during the summertime when it's too hot to grow the fruits further south, he said. Soren Bjorn, president of Driscoll's of the Americas, said the company works with a network of independent growers to package, ship and sell strawberries. “We're still going to have a lot of production,” he said.Ī challenge for strawberry growers is the plants are already in the ground. The county estimates the farm sector was hit by $324 million in losses from January storms, and strawberries, raspberries and greens will likely be affected by this one, he said.īut, he added, many acres of farmland won't be, and consumers may not feel the impact of the storms. Monterey County is home to Pajaro and the crop-rich Salinas Valley, and has more than 360,000 farmed acres, said Juan Hidalgo, the county's agricultural commissioner. “Right now, I think everyone's out trying to save the farm, so to speak,” Groot said, adding more rain was forecast for the weekend. Some vegetables had already been planted, but many hadn't, and might see delays in planting due to the storms, said Norm Groot, executive director of the Monterey County Farm Bureau. Other crops are also affected by the deluge in the Pajaro Valley, such as lettuce and other greens. It just overwhelmed us - and overwhelmed the river.” “We certainly were not expecting all these atmospheric rivers. “When it started raining, we were elated, happy, saying, ‘This is what we need, a rainy season,’” Navarro said. He said he was fortunate his fields weren't flooded by the levee rupture, but still expects his crop to be delayed several weeks due to the rainy, cold weather.Īfter planting berries last year, Navarro said he and other farmers were concerned about water sources drying up due to prolonged drought. Peter Navarro grows strawberries, raspberries and blackberries on a farm by the Pajaro River. About a third of the state's strawberry acreage is in the Watsonville and Salinas areas, according to the commission. The overwhelming majority of U.S.-grown strawberries come from California, with farms in different regions of the state harvesting the berries at distinct times of the year. The most critical issue, he said, is helping those in the community of Pajaro rebuild. The nearby Pajaro River swelled with runoff from last week's rains and the levee - built in the 1940s to provide flood protection and a known risk for decades - ruptured, forcing the evacuation of more than 8,000 people from the largely Latino farmworker community.įarmworkers have seen their hours reduced or slashed entirely due to the storms, said Antonio De Loera-Brust, a spokesperson for United Farm Workers. Many communities have been coping with intense rainstorms and flooding, including the unincorporated community of Pajaro, known for its strawberry crop. But so far this winter, the nation's most populous state - and a key source of food for the nation - has been battered by 11 atmospheric rivers as well as powerful storms fueled by arctic air that produced blizzard conditions in the mountains. For years, California's farmers have been plagued by drought and battles over water as key sources have run dry.
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