The rain, rain won’t go away, and there’s more ahead for another day. Forecasters say the latest train of atmospheric rivers that have been battering the area will roar though again today through Friday, with another on the way Saturday and ANOTHER early next week. That means the ongoing threat of creeks and rivers spilling over their banks, mudslides, and trees toppling over from the soaked ground.
The storms continue to claim lives. The body of a woman from Ukiah was found Wednesday in a sunken car in Mark West Creek in Sonoma County. 43-year-old Daphne Fontino called 9-1-1 on Tuesday to say the car was filling up with water, but the line went dead. Rescuers searched for hours until they finally found the vehicle in about 10 feet of water, 200 yards from the bank of West Creek on Wednesday She was the fourth person to die from the weather in Mendocino and Sonoma Counties since the storms started, and the 18th person killed statewide. Most of the deaths have been drivers whose vehicles were swept away in the high water.
The Army Corps of Engineers may let some water out of Lake Mendocino near Ukiah by the weekend, but the trick will be to do that without flooding Route 175 and communities downstream. The floodgates at Coyote Dam haven’t been opened since 2019. The corps says it will weigh the benefits of a reservoir release versus the risk of flooding in the rest of the watershed. It’s a stunning reversal on Lake Mendocino, which over the past 4 dry years has seen water levels almost as low as they have ever been.
The latest information posted by the California Nevada River Forecast Center shows water over the flood stage on the Navarro River at Navarro and the Russian River near Hopland. The water level is well below flood stage on Clearlake at Lakeport.
So far, Lake County seems to be handling the rain fairly well. Lake County Special Districts Administrator Scott Harter tells LakeCo News that aside from a couple minor sewage spills, the county has done OK and with fingers crossed, he doesn’t expect any big problems.
The numbers from the storms have been amazing. Since the day after Christmas, almost 28 inches of rain has swamped the tiny community of Venado along the Mill Creek west of Healdsburg. Almost 9 feet of snow has fallen in parts of the mountains.
Fallen trees have caused a few scattered power outages. According to the PG&E outage map this morning, most of them are clustered along the south coast in Mendocino County, where power may not be back on until tonight. As always, the utility says if you come across any downed trees and lines, assume the wires are live and stay well away.
As far as Mendocino County Schools, the district website mcoe.us says Pacific Community Charter School K-8 ONLY is closed. The high school is open.
There IS some potential good news ahead, The National Weather service 7 to 10 day outlook predicts drier weather, with even BELOW NORMAL rainfall in the longer term outlook.
Mendocino County Code Enforcement, the State, and CalTrans are now involved with a sinkhole that cut off safe access to the Creekside Cabins in Willits. A culvert failed under a private encroachment onto a state roadway leading to the cabins on December 30. Officials later concluded that the property owner was responsible for fixing it. The county says that the owner has done nothing so far and apparently doesn’t intend to Mendocino County Social Services is assessing the needs of the tenants behind the sinkhole, but officials say it’s not their responsibility to fix the landlord’s obligations. The county is looking into what it can do to force the owner to make the necessary repairs, based on any immediate health and safety needs of the residents.
A standoff over a dying Ponderosa Pine with an eagle’s nest on top in Potter Valley continues. PG&E got US Fish and Wildlife services permission to cut the tree down last week, but according to MendoFever.com, a small group of activists has blocked utility crews from doing that. PG&E says the tree threatens some of its lines nearby, but the group from the Mattole in Humboldt and Native American elders say they’ll remain in the way until there’s a plan to keep the tree standing. Congressman Jared Huffman is involved, expressing his concern about the fate of what’s now known as the Bald Eagle Tree. PG&E isn’t commenting directly but indicates it still intends to take the tree down to make sure electric service in the area remains safe. Fish and Wildlife say even though the eagle breeding season starts Sunday, taking down an eagle’s nest is allowed in care of an emergency or threat that could harm the eagles—or humans.
