Hundreds evacuated as storm breaches California river’s levee

Crews had gone door-to-door on Friday afternoon to urge residents to leave before the rains came, but some stayed and had to be pulled from floodwaters early on Saturday.

Sonoma County Fire’s Eric Gromala guides a woman to safety after her vehicle stalled out in deep floodwater on Eastside Road near Forestville, California (The Press Democrat/AP)

Authorities have ordered more than 1,500 people to evacuate from a Northern California agricultural community famous for its strawberry crop after the Pajaro River’s levee was breached by flooding.

Monterey County officials said the break in the levee – upstream from the unincorporated community of Pajaro along California’s Central Coast – is about 100ft wide.