🌱 Thunderstorm Aftermath + Drought Forecast + New Restaurant Opens

Hello again! It's me, Simone, your host of the Healdsburg Patch newsletter. Because I’m confined to my bedchamber with a back injury and need a distraction, you get a special Sunday edition as well this week. 🎉

And speaking of my situation — thank you so much to everyone who reached out yesterday to offer your support and send love. Every message made a difference. Y'all are the best.

Now without further ado, let's dive into everything you need to know about what's happening in town these days. Today's issue includes the following stories:

• A morning-after look at the thunderstorm last night
• Another look at our water reservoirs
• The reported opening of Healdsburg's new Indian restaurant
• And more...

But first, your local weather:

• Sunday: Some sun peeking through, with rain likely returning again in the afternoon. Heavy rain and wind overnight. Chance of thunderstorms. High: 58 Low: 50.
• Monday: A bunch more rain. High: 59 Low: 46.
• Tuesday: More rain and another chance of thunderstorms. "Flood watch" finally ends at 4 p.m. High: 53 Low: 45.

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Air over Healdsburg:

Here are the top 3 stories today in Healdsburg:

1. How bout that insane thunder and lightning last night? As one neighbor wrote on Facebook: "Been in Healdsburg a long time… the past hr I’ve heard some of the loudest thunder ever." Other residents say their homes were shaking and their pets were freaking out. Other than that, the only big report I've seen of overnight damage or chaos here in town was a tree that fell onto power lines around midnight on Reed Court near Rec Park, according to the Healdsburg Fire Department — causing a road closure and reports from nearby residents of a power outage. Meanwhile, while there's still a county-issued "evacuation warning" in effect for people living along the Russian River in "unincorporated south Healdsburg" — meaning "be ready to evacuate "— weather officials have somewhat softened their predictions for how high the river will rise over the next few days of rain. It's now expected to peak Monday night at just over 19 feet in Healdsburg, which would keep it below the "monitor" stage on the flood scale. They're still predicting some flooding over in Guerneville, though. (Healdsburg Fire Department via Facebook & Sonoma County Government & National Weather Service & David Hagele via Facebook & City of Healdsburg via Facebook & Facebook Groups & Facebook Groups & Nextdoor & Nextdoor)
2. There's a great story in a local indie paper up in Ukiah today about the triumphant rise of the Lake Mendocino reservoir, where Healdsburg gets most of its water, thanks to these nonstop rainstorms. From the story: "The surging east fork of the Russian River is fast filling up the lake, promising to end three years of drought conditions with current levels on Saturday reaching close to 100 percent of the target water supply level for the coming year, according to local and state water officials. 'The rainfall is phenomenal. It has filled a big hole in the local water supply,' said Sean White, the city of Ukiah’s water director. ... Water from Lake Mendocino is key to the drinking water sources for the communities of Ukiah, Hopland, Cloverdale, and Healdsburg. Downstream flows support threatened Chinook salmon and steelhead trout during fall and winter seasons and provide irrigation and frost protection for thousands of acres of farmland between Ukiah Valley and Healdsburg. The reservoir also provides critical flood control to protect communities like Guerneville, which would suffer even more drastic flooding issues if Coyote Dam was not in place." (Redheaded Blackbelt)
3. Our other local reservoir, Lake Sonoma, is filling up slowly but surely as well. "Behind us, we have significant evidence of what is going to be a drought buster," Sonoma County Supervisor James Gore said in a video he recorded at the lake on Friday. "Some people are pretty reticent to say that's what's going to happen, but the reality is that on Dec. 10, we were at the lowest recorded history of water here at Lake Sonoma, at 96,000 acre feet. That would have caused us to... have 30 percent conservation mandatory across our system. And currently, after these series of storms, we are at 138,000 acre feet with projection by the 16th of January to be at around 215,000 acre feet." He added: This is just beautiful to see this lake filling up." However! Environmental experts who spoke to the Press Democrat warn that reservoir levels aren’t necessarily the best way to define drought. One UCLA climate scientist argues that this "overlooks the impacts of drought on plant life, particularly the stresses on trees and forests, which contributed to wildfire risk." More from the PD: "Aquifers that have been under increased pressure to supply water in the absence of healthy reservoirs also need more time to recover. 'Those take much longer to restore. They recover on much, much longer time scales, for the most part,' said [UCSD meteorologist Marty Ralph]. 'Water supply drought is different from landscape drought,' he said. Jeanine Jones, drought manager for the California Department of Water Resources, said groundwater monitoring even after a very wet rainy season generally doesn’t show significant improvement in a single year’s time." (James Gore via Facebook & Press Democrat; paywall)

Coming up in Healdsburg:

Sunday, January 8

• Final Day of "Stories Behind the Structures" Exhibit & Model Train Display at the Healdsburg Museum (11AM-4PM)
• Little Monsters Culinary Hosts Winter Cooking Class for Kids at Private Healdsburg Barn (3-4:30PM)

Monday, January 9

• Deadline to Apply for Open Spot on the Healdsburg City Parks & Rec Commission (5:30PM)
• Healdsburg Chorus Hosts First Rehearsal of the Spring Season at the Healdsburg Community Church (6:30-8:30PM)

Tuesday, January 10

• After-School "Mixed Media" Art Lab for Kids Aged 6-8 at the Healdsburg Center for the Arts (Jan. 10-Feb. 14, 3:30-5:30PM)
• "Family Is a Rainbow" Event for Queer Families & Allies With Kids Aged 3-8 at the Healdsburg Library (4PM)
• Healdsburg Running Company "Trail Sisters" Host Fitch Mountain Run (6PM)
• Healdsburg High School Boys Soccer Home Game Vs. Santa Rosa (7PM)
• Healdsburg High School Boys Basketball Home Game Vs. Rancho Cotate (7:30PM)

Note from Simone: Probably best to check with organizers before attending any of the above events, especially the outdoor ones, in case they're canceled due to weather.

Healdsburg pic of the day:

Do you have a good storm pic to share, or a photo of anything else interesting you've spotted in Healdsburg lately? You can send your pics to me here. Please just confirm in your email that you took them, and that Patch has permission to republish them! 📸

From my notebook:

• Correction from yesterday's newsletter! The bridge that flooded Friday morning was not, in fact, the Wohler Bridge over the Russian River just west of Windsor — that would have had some bonkers implications, given how high up that bridge is. In fact, it was Mark West Creek that hopped the newly renovated little bridge near Wohler and River Roads, down in Forestville where Eastside Road ends. Sorry for the false alarm, and thanks to the multiple readers who reached out after noticing my mistake. (Healdsburg Patch & Healdsburg Fire Department via Facebook)
• There was also a little technical glitch when I sent out the following news item yesterday that garbled the text, so I’m sharing it again today. “You know the Bird e-bike share program that launched late last year in Healdsburg? City officials are now saying they've ‘temporarily paused’ the program due to ‘some in-flight turbulence’ — ‘not that you’d probably want to get your feathers wet right now anyway.’ They haven't given a specific reason for the hiatus, but say that they've ‘paused payments’ to Bird ‘through the duration the pilot program is on hold.’ More from their announcement: ‘We will update you when the flock is ready to fly! In the meantime, if you see a bike that has landed in an unsafe area, or in a location that’s ruffling feathers, please contact Bird Customer Service at 1 (866) 205-2442 so they can work to relocate the bike.’ Click through to the city's Facebook post to see some angry comments and questions from neighbors, plus the cordial (if a little vague) responses from city officials.” (City of Healdsburg via Facebook)
• Looks like the Hampton Inn down in Windsor is "offering a discounted rate for those displaced by the storms." (Facebook Groups & COPE Northern Sonoma County via Facebook)
• A neighbor says that Bollywood Kitchen, the new "Indian, Nepalese and Tibetan" restaurant in the Safeway shopping center where Asahi used to be, is now open for dine-in and takeout. (Nextdoor)
• Some Healdsburg residents living in and around the Riverside-Riverview neighborhood could have sworn they heard gunshots last night. They don't think it was the thunder. Anyone else hear anything? (Nextdoor)

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Events:

• Crossing Over With Psychic Medium John Edward (Live)! (January 15)
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That's it for today. Til next time, stay safe out there, Healdsburg...

— Simone Wilson

About me: I was born and raised in Healdsburg, CA, where I was the editor of the Healdsburg High School Hound's Bark. I have since worked as a local journalist for publications in San Diego, Los Angeles, New York City and the Middle East. I'm currently a senior product manager for Patch.

Have a news tip or suggestion for an upcoming Healdsburg Daily? Contact me at simone.wilson@patch.com