Recently, there has been a down pour of rain in California. For the past several years, California has been in a drought, so the state is not used to this kind of rain. This extreme weather has taken a major toll on Monterey County including shutting down roads, schools, and devastating areas.
In January and March, there were torrential downpours throughout Monterey County. Due to the rain, many roads were closed including (but not limited to) Davis Road, River Road, and even parts of Highway 101. These highways weren’t only closed due to flooding but also obstructions caused by the weather. For example, Aguajito Road in Monterey was closed due to a tree that was down in the power lines. Also, Kirby Road which leads to Kirby Park was shut down due to damages from the storm. Many of these roads were extremely dangerous to drive on which caused their closures.
Due to the roads being closed and unsafe driving conditions, many schools across Monterey County had to shut down. School Districts such as King City Union School District, San Ardo Union Elementary School District, Bradley Union School District, South Monterey County Joint Union School District, and Carmel Unified School District canceled school for at least one day due to the unsafe weather conditions.
Various areas across Monterey County have been devastated due to the weather. The King City Golf Course was flooded and needs repairs. Six out of the nine holes at the golf course were flooded. They are still working on restoring the golf course due to the major damages. The flooding has also taken a toll on the agricultural aspect of Monterey County by flooding fields and ruining the crops. The Monterey Herald states that, there will be “…no less than $40 to $50 million…” (2023). Monterey County needs times to recover from the damages these storms have brought.
While the storm has filled up the rivers and helped the drought, it has done more harm than good. Our museum even had to be shut down for multiple days due to the dangerous weather conditions. Unfortunately, it looks like this storm has more negatively than positively impacted Monterey County.
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