New Year's Storms Swamp Northern California

SACRAMENTO, California, January 2, 2005 (ENS) - More rain and possible thunderstorms are forecast for Northern California today after a series of the worst winter storms since 1997 swept the region on Saturday, leaving flooded homes, businesses and vineyards in its wake.

One man died Saturday, when he was pinned under a falling tree during a mudslide. A woman broke her leg when another slide smashed into her Santa Rosa home. At least half a dozen people were rescued by helicopter from rushing floodwaters in Sonoma County.

A high surf warning for coastal regions of the San Francisco Bay Area will last through tonight. In Monterey, Santa Cruz and San Benito counties an urban and small stream flood warning is in effect.

The Russian River near Guerneville is full to overflowing. (Photo credit unknown)

The heavy rains have filled the Russian River above the flood level. Near the Sonoma County town of Guerneville, the river crested Sunday at 41.26 feet, roughly 10 feet above flood stage. The river is not expected to recede below flood stage until late tonight.

In the city of Napa, in the center of wine country, the Napa River rose five feet above flood stage, sending a rush of water into the downtown area.

Upstream in St. Helena, officials estimated about 1,000 homes flooded Saturday when the Napa River reached a record seven feet above flood stage. It began to recede late Saturday night.

Across Napa and Sonoma counties, emergency managers say roads and bridges are closed by washouts, mud and rock slides and pavement slumps. Trees have toppled onto power lines, causing outages throughout the region.

The American Red Cross is operating shelters at Analy High School in Sebastopol and at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds. Trailers, motor homes and recreational vehicles will not be allowed for occupancy or storage at the fairgrounds, but will be redirected to locations where they are permitted.

Storm waters flooded a Napa resort. (Photo courtesy James Tennery)

In Sacramento County, Emergency Operations Center Coordinator Rick Martinez estimated that 60 buildings were flooded. He urged drivers to use caution when transiting flooded areas.

“It only takes six inches of moving water to cause a vehicle to lose control,” Martinez said.

Sacramento County sanitation officials began dealing with overflowing sewer lines on Saturday when storm waters inundated the lines, exceeding their design capacity. Some homes and streets were affected by the overflows, said Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District Engineer Robert Shanks.

“The recent storm system simply brought more water than the sewers could handle at once,” Shanks said.

While the Sacramento and American River levees are stable, the County of Sacramento issued a State of Local Emergency Saturday because of localized flooding and as a precautionary measure to further flooding from the New Year’s storms.

Floodwaters creep up the trunk of a Napa tree decorated for the holidays. (Photo courtesy James Tennery)

More than 600,000 Pacific Gas and Electric customers from Bakersfield, California to the Oregon border experienced power outages, said spokesperson Claudia Mendoza. Nearly 110,000 customers were still without power on Sunday.

As part of the storm alert, California Highway Department officials have posted high wind advisories for most Northern California bridges, including the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, the Elkhorn Bridge north of Sacramento, the Dumbarton Bridge in Menlo Park, and the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge.

The Environmental Health Division of the California Department of Health Services advises that any private wellhead that has been covered by floodwaters should be considered contaminated. Residents are advised to boil water from these wells for three to five minutes before drinking or cooking.