We Don’t Know Whether Most of the Bay’s Levees Are Safe

Residents of Pajaro in Monterey County were finally allowed to return home Thursday after destructive flooding from last week’s storms. When the levee broke, causing the town to flood, it wasn’t a huge surprise; problems with that levee have been well-known for decades, but it wasn’t enough to address the problem fast enough. The Bay Area has hundreds of its own levees. And it turns out, we don’t really know how safe or vulnerable most of them are. Guest: Ezra David Romero, climate reporter for KQED Links The Bay Survey Fewer Than 10% of Levees in the Greater Bay Area Have a Federal Flood Risk Rating This episode was produced by Alan Montecillo and Maria Esquinca. Jehlen Herdman is our intern. Ericka Cruz Guevarra is the host.  Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices