The flooding that ravaged Planada, a farm town in eastern Merced County, was a stark example in a broader pattern that played out across California during the epic rains of 2023: Atmospheric rivers pounded areas rich and poor with equal ferocity, but poor rural communities, often unincorporated, sustained crippling, widespread damage and bore the lasting brunt.
In many of these places, inadequate maintenance or lagging improvements by local districts, counties and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers made flooding worse. In Planada, for example, it had been more than a decade since brush had been cleared from Miles Creek. In Pajaro, state and federal officials had known the levee protecting the town from the Pajaro River was at risk for failure but had not prioritized improvements because Army Corps models determined the cost-benefit ratio did not pencil out.
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