Massive downpour has triggered a flood warning for the Russian River near Hopland. The warning was extended to this morning after several inches of rain fell across the county. The National Weather Service in Eureka reported the most rain in Yorkville in the county with nearly 13 inches as of around 11 pm last night. Redwood Valley was the next highest. Several roads are closed as the Russian River flooded over its banks, on State Route 175 near Hopland. The Navarro River was not forecasted to go over its flood level of 23 feet. Around dinner time last night Highway 1 was closed because the Garcia River was flooding. Yesterday afternoon the Sheriff’s office sent out a nixle alert for residents to prepare for possible flooding saying there were falling trees and debris, car accidents or vehicles off the road in Mendocino, Lake and Humboldt counties.
Prison guards on the staff of Calif. facilities in a health care setting have to be vaccinated. A judge in Kern County allowed the mandate for some, not all prison guards and staff. It comes after a public health order for guards and other prison and jail employees working in correctional health care settings, to get vaccinated. The Calif. Correctional Peace Officers Association is against the mandate. The judge is considering the order for other guards, but not other employees, so that could potentially also go into effect, or be tossed. The judge said the union’s arguments didn’t hold because something had to be done to address the global pandemic.
Over ten thousand trees have to be felled due to the catastrophic fires this summer. Add in the drought, disease and age and the hazardous trees don’t stand a chance. It also means the closure of a road known as Generals Highway as the trees could fall on people there to see some of the tallest sequoias. The announcement by the Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks Friday the highway will be closed because of the KNP Complex. It will be blocked off after the fire is officially declared contained as crews cut down the trees and trim branches. The highway is where the Giant Forest comes off of which features the General Sherman Tree, considered the world’s largest by volume.
Investigations into unpermitted Cannabis grows ended up in hundreds of plants eradicated in Mendocino County. Code Enfocement officers were in Redwood Valley, Willits, Ukiah and Hopland. Any cannabis cultivation that was deemed more than the Medical or Adult Use exemption limit was considered to be commercial cultivation. And so at those locations, they were found in violation of Mendocino County codes. In all 436 plants were abated by those responsible from growing them.
Homecoming events for the Konocti Unified School District had to be adjusted as Lower Lake High’s football teams were in a modified quarantine due to possible exposure to COVID-19. Lower Lake High’s homecoming events usually occur on a weekend, but since both of their football teams were in quarantine with some who tested positive, they’re in the middle of contact tracing. They ended up quarantining 60 students on the football teams. They’re allowed to go to school, but cannot go to any after school events. The modified quarantine per the state is for students who have not been vaccinated but came into contact with positive cases. The homecoming rally happened, but the dance and football games are postponed.
A resident of Caspar has sent out an open letter to fellow community members. The letter from Jim Tarbell, an active member of the Mendocino County community published on MendoFever.com. It’s about political boundaries that are considered every decade, after the US Census report comes out. Tarbell says his neighbors need to act now to stop a “well-organized, Mendocino-town based effort to have the Mendocino Redistricting Advisory Commission move the boundary between the Fourth and Fifth Supervisorial Districts from… Russian Gulch north to Caspar Creek”. He says it will damage community rebuilding efforts for the last twenty years. He says the community needs to remind the Redistricting Advisory Commission the move would damage the integrity of the Caspar community.
A new report says there are some Mendocino County governmental agencies operating surveillance drones. The report by the Mendocino Voice says at least six unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or surveillance drones per the Atlas of Surveillance, a project of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The report says the Foundation aims to “document police tech in our communities with open source research.” The report is entitled Public Safety Drones and comes from the Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College. It’s not aimed at Mendocino County per se. The news site reports the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office has five drones which the agency says they use for search and rescue missions. The DA’s office also reportedly has one, also for search and rescue.
Mendocino College says they’re going to be offering more classes, like they used to, before the coronavirus pandemic. They say they will continue their “safety first” approach with more in person classes after a year and a half of almost all online classes. The spring 2022 term starts January 18th and school officials say it will look a lot more like it did before COVID. But they will still have a lot of online and hybrid classes for those who like that better or who cannot attend in person for other reasons. They will require masks indoors. They have put in stronger filtration systems, air purifiers and are updating with touchless fixtures. They will also have enhanced cleaning, hand sanitizing stations throughout building entrances, and provide masks and wipes in offices and classrooms. There will also be an all-new Director of COVID-19 Response position. While vaccines are not mandatory, they are offering $100 gift cards for those who get their shots.
Both Cal Trans and the Mendocino County Transportation Dept. report being out at accidents and helping remove debris from roadways due to heavy rain and flooding. Flood warnings were issued by the National Weather Service last night for the potential for small stream and urban flooding through last night, but it was extended to this morning for the Russian River at Hopland, the Navarro River and possible flooding also on HWY 175 and HWY 128. Highway 1 was closed near Garcia River at post mark 17.5 – 18.5 due to flooding. The agencies remind not to drive through flood waters and if you see a downed power line, assume it is energized and extremely dangerous, so don’t touch it or try to move it and report it immediately by calling 911. You can also call PG&E emergency numbers. The company is working to restore power as it happens.
The state attorney general has reportedly won a victory in court to get a Trump administration rule regarding the Clean Water Act tossed. Attorney General Rob Bonta argued the Trump-era rule illegally curtailed state authority under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act which provides states their own authority to approve, impose conditions on or deny certification for federally permitted projects so they would comply with state law. But the Trump Administration moved to restrict that authority in California, Washington, and New York, which all went to court to challenge that rule, and won. The District Court vacated the rule which basically went against the Clean Water Act.
The Lake County Public Health Dept. is reminding there’s still a pandemic. The agency says during the second week of October the daily Case Rate was 15.4 cases/100,000, which is way lower than over the summer, but still twice as much as the Purple Tier which meant closure of many businesses. The department also reported 41 deaths from the virus since the start of summer, which was almost half the amount of total deaths from the pandemic in Lake County. Public Health reminds to get tested, especially during cold and flu season if you think you may be sick. And that getting vaccinated is the best available defense, and approved COVID-19 vaccines are safe and appropriate for almost everyone.
There are numerous opportunities to access vaccination and testing in Lake County. The most current information is available at:
http://health.co.lake.ca.us/Coronavirus/Vaccines.htm
http://health.co.lake.ca.us/Coronavirus/Testing.htm
If you want to get vaccinated, and are facing barriers, call 707-263-8174.
There’s a movement to get the Potter Valley Project managed locally, and now a petition to go with it. The Farm Bureau is trying to get talks going with Congressman Jared Huffman who they contend, is not behind the project. A former Mendocino County Supervisor has also written an opinion piece on the matter. The petition is circulating featuring a letter to Congressman Huffman who they say supports the decommissioning of the Project. Former Supervisor Michael Delbar says the project supplies water for fish in two river systems, green power, fire suppression, and water for over a half-million people in Mendocino and Sonoma Counties. Signature gathering is going on until Thursday to get meetings going with Huffman and North Coast Congressman John Garamendi.
In his regular Friday address, the Mendocino County Public Health Officer says the summer surge of COVID19 seems to be waning. Dr. Andy Coren said there were some new cases which impacted the county’s daily rate at 15 new cases/day, up from 13, as of October 22nd. He also talked about more cases being seen in kids between 5 and 11 and a new strain in the United Kingdom called Delta-Plus, which Dr. Coren says looks to be spreading amongst children. But there are no cases of the variant in Calif. Coren also spoke about more hospitalizations than last year’s winter surge. After his talk Friday, the county announced 19 new cases and 11 hospitalizations, including two in the Intensive Care Unit.
