Storm-Stricken Sonoma County Prepares For More Rain, Possible Flooding

SONOMA COUNTY, CA — Sonoma County is bracing for more weekend rain in an area that has already seen millions of dollars in damage from recent storms.

Rain and thunderstorms will hit Friday evening and a flood watch, coastal flood advisory and wind advisory will be in effect for Saturday and Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.

The area was expected to receive between 1 and 1.5 inches of rain on Friday, followed by a stronger storm coming in on Saturday that will bring an additional 1.5 to 2 inches of rain, according to the weather service. Gusty winds of up to 50 mph are also forecast.

The wet weather could compromise an already soggy county, especially in the Russian River area, which has been pummeled by the atmospheric river that hit the region and much of California in the past couple of weeks. Evacuation warnings went out to the Russian River area during the most recent storms as the waters rose.

The Russian River as of Friday was forecast to crest at the 32-foot level around 9 a.m. Sunday, according to county spokesperson Gina Stocker. The county anticipates that it will stay at that level "for about 3 hours" before subsiding.

On Sunday, another storm will move in and bring strong winds and more rain on Monday morning.

As the county has done over the last period of storms, recovery support centers will be set up for residents. Supplies are available at the old Bank of America building in Guerneville, Stocker said, with sponges, work gloves, hand sanitizer, mops, buckets, garbage bags, brooms, disposable latex gloves, bottled water, masks, emergency blankets, ponchos and Meals Ready to Eat (MREs).

Another recovery center will be open over the weekend in Healdsburg, though the county has not yet disclosed its location.

The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors declared a disaster on Tuesday to boost the county's ability to respond to the storms.

On Friday, a spokesperson for Caltrans said that the agency was keeping a "close eye" on the Russian River and other waterways in the county as more rain falls in the area.

"There's only so much water we can pump," said Jeff Weiss from Caltrans. "So if the rivers flood the highways, we'll need to close roads and implement detours — which is something we're accustomed to doing, and we already have plans for such an event."

As of Friday afternoon, state Highway 1 between Russian Gulch and Meyers Grade Road had one lane blocked for emergency road repair, Weiss said. Highway 1 at Fort Ross Creek was also under one-way traffic control near Windemere Point, just north of Fort Ross.

Out of an abundance of caution, Caltrans has simply shut down the intersection of state Highway 121 and state Highway 12 for the last two weeks, Weiss said, as the area is notorious for flooding.

Last week on Highway 12 a large sinkhole formed, Weiss said, and Caltrans will be working on permanent repair of the damage at Dutton Avenue in Santa Rosa.

Overall, the county's bridges are "holding up well," said Weiss, and the agency has been monitoring for scour, or soil erosion that can happen at the base of bridges, which can be made worse when a lot of water in a short period of time is added to the equation.

Currently, two bridges in Sonoma County already have existing scour — the Sonoma Creek Bridge and the Hooker Creek Bridge. Caltrans plans to replace both bridges beginning this spring.

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