Rep. Jimmy Panetta announced Monday that he had helped secure almost $7 million of Federal Emergency Management Agency reimbursements meant to restore local infrastructure that received a heavy beating in 2023 and 2024.
“Our communities continue to struggle to find the funding necessary to repair the damage from past storms,” Panetta (D- Santa Cruz ) said in a release. “These FEMA reimbursements will help cover the costs of repairs and ensure that our local governments are not left on their own to shoulder the financial burden. No matter the Administration in power, I’m committed to pressuring the federal government to deliver for our home so we can rebuild stronger and provide our residents with the safe and reliable infrastructure.”
The $6.9 million allocated to Santa Cruz County has been earmarked for specific purposes. Of the total, $2.1 million will go to continued efforts to reopen Mountain Charlie Road in the Santa Cruz Mountains after a huge landslide in February 2024 isolated dozens of families in the area.
Another $1.6 million has been allocated to the city of Santa Cruz for its Felton diversion pipeline efforts. Severe flooding in Zayante Creek eroded embankments and broke the pipeline while also washing out the dirt trail used for its maintenance. The funding will bolster efforts to replace the pipeline, stabilize the embankment and install hazard mitigation features such as riprap armoring.
The county will receive another $1.1 million for emergency response operations that were critical almost two years ago as the storms unfolded for weeks on end. The money will reimburse the county for costs it incurred by standing up several emergency operations centers, running shelters for residents and animals, conducting evacuations and performing critical road and levee repairs.
Finally, $1.9 million will be dedicated to one of the county’s most critical and costly maintenance issues — culvert repairs. In all, nine culverts were washed out across the county during the 2023 and 2024 storms due to flooding and landslides. The federal money will help refill county coffers depleted through permanent culvert repair work that included pipe replacement, embankment restoration and hazard mitigation.
The $6.9 million for Santa Cruz County came as part of an almost $15 million package that benefited the 19th Congressional District that Panetta represents. Of that total, $7.6 million went to San Luis Obispo County to reimburse work that restored Chimney Rock Road .
Running the numbers
While the reimbursement windfall will surely be welcomed with open arms, it arrives at a troubling economic moment for the county. For years, leaders have been sounding the alarm about the financial hit the county budget has taken in the aftermath of the eight federally declared disasters it has experienced since 2017. While county staff have managed to qualify for $250 million in eligible reimbursements over the eight-year period, the funding has been slow to arrive, leading to severe cash flow problems.
County spokesperson Jason Hoppin told the Sentinel Monday that, as of last week, the county had about $55.8 million in unpaid or pending FEMA claims, including some that date back to 2017.
For the 2023-2024 winter storms specifically, that total was $21.6 million, but that figure drops to about $18.5 million when the recently announced emergency operations and culvert repairs are subtracted, according to the Sentinel’s calculation.
“We are still trying to get reimbursement for all outstanding claims, but the things that seem to be moving now are the more recent claims,” said Hoppin. “The further we get out from 2017, for example, the less likely it is that we will be reimbursed. But we’re still trying.”
Still, some progress has been made with Panetta and Rep. Zoe Lofgren helping secure $17.7 million for the county last year for costs that stemmed back to emergency health and safety responses during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Panetta also had a hand in Swanton Pacific Ranch’s successful effort to receive $3.6 million from FEMA for efforts to remove dead or dying trees left standing in the region after the 2020 CZU Lightning Complex fires.
© 2025 the Santa Cruz Sentinel (Scotts Valley, Calif.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
