Storm dumps four inches of rain on parts of Sonoma County, more on the way

A second round of rain is set to sweep through the North Bay on Thursday.|

A second round of rain showers and thunderstorms are set to sweep through the North Bay area on Thursday morning as one of the largest storms of the winter season pushes through Northern California.

A weaker wave of showers are expected to reach the county by mid morning, after breezing through Marin.

Sonoma County first responders said they were fielding calls of downed trees, power lines and flooding for most of Wednesday night as the storm peaked at midnight, bringing with it strong winds of up to 50 mph in some areas.

Power outages swept through the county, with some residents and businesses still without power on Thursday morning, including the county’s California Highway Patrol office, that have been operating on a back-up generator for over 12 hours.

Two road closures were reported in Sebastopol and Santa Rosa at 8 a.m.

Franz Valley School Road is closed at the Napa County line and Duer Road is closed at Highway 12 due to downed trees and power lines.

In Mendocino County, Cal Fire reported two road closures because of flooding and fallen power lines. Highway 1 at Garcia River and Highway 175 at the Russian River Bridge are both closed.

Dispatchers said they had a significant amount of overnight calls regarding downed trees that were affecting residents all over.

Horicon School District and El Molino High School in Forestville announced that they will be closed on Thursday because of power outages.

Santa Rosa Junior College officials had to evacuate the Mendocino Avenue campus after a power outage about 6:20 p.m., college spokesman Erin Bricker said. At 7 a.m., the campus announced that the power was back on and that all sites were open.

The top portion of a redwood tree grazed a house at Taylor Lane in Occidental, and damaged three cars.

Ron Lunardi, Occidental’s fire chief, said the house did not receive any structural damage but that one car was totaled from the fallen tree.

“Our department was able to keep most of the roads open through the night but we responded to many calls of downed trees and power line exposures,” Lunardi said.

Over the last 24 hours the National Weather Service reported some parts of the county received over four inches of rain and gusts of 60 mph.

To date, Santa Rosa has accumulated over 17 inches of rain, putting the city at 94 percent normal for rainfall average for January, said NWS meteorologist Ryan Walbrun.

“This time last year Santa Rosa was only at 59 percent of normal so this is really good news for how much better we are doing,” Walbrun said.

Santa Rosa, Sebastopol and Windsor all received nearly two inches of rain the past 24 hours, the NWS reported. Parts of Petaluma received over two inches and Guerneville was almost at six inches at 8 a.m. Thursday.

The Russian River was not expected to reach flood stages, but Walbrun said parts of the river near Healdsburg and Guerneville rose higher than they predicted.

“The Russian River at Guerneville might see some action if it rises to 32 feet which would cause some minor flooding,” Walbrun said.

The worst of the storm has passed, Walbrun said, and winds will continue to die down significantly.

You can reach Staff Writer Alexandria Bordas at 707-521-5337 or alexandria.bordas@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @CrossingBordas.

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