Flood Warning Issued For Sonoma County

SONOMA COUNTY, CA — The National Weather Service canceled its flood watch for the greater Bay Area at 2:25 p.m. Thursday but its flood warning remained in effect until 5 p.m. for parts of Sonoma and Marin counties.

Flooding was occurring Thursday in the warned area where 1.5 - 3.5 inches of rainfall was recorded. Some locations expected to experience flooding include Santa Rosa, Petaluma, Novato, Rohnert Park, Windsor, Sebastopol, Cotati, South Santa Rosa Cdp, Roseland, Larkfield-Wikiup, Black Point-Green Point, Forestville, South Santa Rosa, Glen Ellen and Temelec and Graton, the weather service said.

"Flooding of rivers, creeks, streams and other low-lying and flood-prone locations is imminent or occurring," the weather service said. "Streams continue to rise due to excess runoff from earlier rainfall. It will take several hours for all the water from these storms to work through local drainage systems in urban areas."

There was minor flooding Thursday afternoon in Sonoma County at Green Valley Creek at Martinelli Road and Colgan Creek near Sebastopol, according to the weather service.

Areas that were nearing flood stage in Sonoma County were the Russian River at Digger Bend in Healdsburg, Mark West Creek near Mirabel Heights, Santa Rosa Creek at Willowside Road, Laguna de Santa Rosa at Stony Point Road, Willow Brook at Stony Point Road and East Washington Creek at Garfield Drive.

Multiple local roads remained closed Thursday afternoon because of flooding. Closures included:

• Eastside Road from Trenton-Healdsburg Road to Riverfront Park
• Mark West Station Road near Starr Road
• Todd Road from Llano Road to Old Gravenstein Highway
• Green Valley Road from Thomas Road to Sullivan Road
• Valley Ford Road between Gericke 1 and state Highway 1
• Valley Ford Freestone Road between Bodega Highway and state Highway 1

Find updated road closure info on this Sonoma County webpage.

The weather service reminded residents to "turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood deaths occur in vehicles."

Residents should be especially cautious at night when it is harder to recognize the dangers of flooding.

"Stay away or be swept away. River banks and culverts can become unstable and unsafe."

Residents were asked to report flooding to local emergency services or law enforcement and request they pass this information to the National Weather Service but only when it was safe to do so.

At 2:25 p.m. Thursday as the weather service canceled the Bay Area-wide flood watch, forecasters said: "Flooding is no longer expected to pose a threat. While isolated to scattered rain showers remain possible, the larger threat of widespread flooding has ended. Please continue to heed remaining road closures."

The next impactful storm is due to hit the Bay Area early next week.