For months, atmospheric storms have battered California with rain, snow, and flooding.

They're unleashing devastation upon communities with surging rivers, landslides, and evacuations.

It's even left one town in California's central coast, Bajaro, completely inundated.

Levees were supposed to take care of these problems,

but aging infrastructure and the effects of climate change

have forced thousands to flee their homes.

We had so many years of drought,

and they could have fixed the levee way back, and they didn't.

And for decades, the repeated breaches, floods, deaths, and pleas to fix the levees,

were ignored by the federal and state government.

Will they finally take action?

I'm Gustav Ariano.

You're listening to The Times, essential news from the LA Times.

It's Wednesday, March 22nd, 2003.

Today, the latest on the devastating floods in Pajaro,

and why it's farmers and communities of color who are paying the price.

Suzanne Rust is an LA Times investigative reporter who specializes in environmental issues.

Suzanne, welcome to the Times.

Hey, thanks for having me.

So if you're not from the Central Coast, most Californians have probably never heard of Baharo before the floods.

So where's Baharo situated in comparison to Silicon Valley, the Bay Area, and all that?

So it's a small town, and it's south of Silicon Valley, and you take Highway 17 over the mountains, which get you to Santa Cruz, and then you go south. And suddenly

...